Private Investigations
by poe1911
Summary: Something is happening at an old castle in Scotland so Fleur Delacour, one of the Ministry's top Aurors is sent to investigate.
1. It's A Mystery to Me

**It's a Mystery to Me**

**A/N** My muse assaulted me with this one out of the blue. I've never seen this pairing so I thought I'd give it a whirl. This is a Harry Potter/BTVS crossover. The only change from canon in the HP verse is that Bill and Fleur never got hitched; pick a reason, it just never happened. In Buffy, well it is canon up to the end of the show, not so much with the comics. This is set about two years after the Deathly Hallows and about four years after Sunnydale's collapse. As always, reviews are always welcome, even negative ones; because that's how I learn to do this better. But please, no pointless rants, they just hurt my two functioning brain cells. I have no proprietary claim to either the Harry Potter works or Buffy the Vampire Slayer; they are the properties of people that make a lot more money than me.

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Fleur Delacour walked into the Ministry with a severe look on her face. Even though she worked as an Auror, she didn't like coming to the central ministry, preferring to work out of the regional offices; but her boss had asked her to come down and that wasn't something she could refuse. Those who had known her from the Triwizard Tournament, and the fight against Voldemort would have barely recognized the young woman, her white-blond hair was pulled back into a simple pony tail, what little make up she was wearing was almost neutral in shade and she wore a simply cut robe of Wedgwood blue. It was obvious that she was attempting to blend in by minimizing her appearance, but it was equally obvious that it wasn't working. She could feel the eyes on her, hear the whispered comments and see looks that varied from anger to mild disgust.

In the two years since Voldemort's defeat, wizarding society had reverted to what it had been in the past. Before Voldemort, part humans and humanistic creatures like centaurs had been relegated to the back of the social bus and while there were no overt incidents, well there had been plenty of covert ones. During Voldemort's reign of terror, folks hadn't been so quick to dismiss help, even if it was from beings that your upbringing told you were second class citizens. Now that snake face was gone, the old attitudes had re-asserted themselves. Fleur knew that there were many, Harry, Dumbledore, Hermione; that fought against this, but Dumbledore was dead and changing the minds of such a hide bound lot was neither easy nor quick. So even though she had accomplished so much in defeating Voldemort and was voluntarily working against him still, Fleur's part human status was what took precedence in many people's minds. She knew what was being said behind her back, that she was using her Veela powers to influence just about everyone around her, and they were why she was advancing so quickly in the Auror's corps. Fleur knew that she was in a no win situation, if she ignored the rumors, then they were true, but if she fought back against them, well she was just that unstable part human French girl that couldn't control herself over some harmless gossip; so she did nothing and simply hoped that people would get tired of whispering the same old stories.

Harry had asked her why she put up with it. He had pointed out that in the non-wizarding world; she could work as a model and be rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Why did she subject herself to so much derision for a group of people that didn't appreciate just what she did? She hadn't answered him, mostly because at that time she really didn't have an answer. What she had done is taken a few days off and thought about it. What she'd come up with were two reasons for staying. One was that as an Auror, she could see that the people that had perpetrated atrocities during Voldemort's reign paid for their crimes. As bad as current society was, these supremacist idiots were worse. But second, and much more importantly; by being so public a figure despite her 'not entirely human' status, she might open some closed minds and thus make things a bit easier for her sister Gabrielle and any children that either of them might have. To achieve this, Fleur was willing to put up with the snide comments and shabby treatment.

Fleur walked up three flights of stairs and down two hallways until she got to the room that she was looking for. In a society that seemed to encourage flamboyance, it was a surprisingly plain door. It was a dark oak door with 'Kingsley Shacklebolt, Head Auror' on it in discrete gold letters. He was her boss. Fleur knocked and only had to wait a second before she heard, "come in," in Kingsley's deep voice. Quickly she slipped in and sat down across from the head Auror. She was perched on the front of her chair, poised like a greyhound waiting for the race to start. Kingsley was one of the few people, outside of her family, that she was truly comfortable with. He understood what she was going through, and what motivated her far better than most since he'd had to endure much the same thing because of his skin color.

"You sent for me?"

"Yes, I've got a bit of a dodgy job that needs doing, and you're the best I've got."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Reconnaissance, get in, look around and get out."

"Where?"

"A castle up in Scotland."

"Why?"

"Now that's a bit of a story," Kingsley replied, sitting back in his chair. "A couple of months ago, we noticed that there was a lot of traffic to and from a castle that we thought was abandoned. We took note but ignored it; for all we knew it was some American getting back in touch with his ancestral past. But then wards started springing up around it, wards that we didn't recognize. What made it worse was the location," he pulled a map onto his desk and motioned Fleur forward.

"It is very close to Hogwarts," she noted at once.

"Indeed, just across the Forbidden Forrest. Once we realized where it was it occurred to us that some of V…V…Voldmort's followers might be using it for a base to attack where we wouldn't suspect it." He looked up to see that the young French woman had a small smile on her face; she always seemed amused by the fact that he stumbled over Voldemort's name. "We tried to find out what we could about the group using the castle now, but essentially we found nothing, which just made us that much more suspicious. So we sent Fergus to investigate." Kingsley saw a mild look of disdain cross Fleur's face; Fergus was not exactly the Ministry's finest. "He wandered about for two days and swore he couldn't even find the bloody place, so we sent Dawlish instead." Again, Fleur's face gave away her feelings, John Dawlish was an ass, but he was also very good at what he did and Kingsley knew that the young ladies opinion of Dawlish was even lower than his. "He said he'd found the place and was going to have a look-see that night, it was the last we heard from him for two days. We were just getting a party together to go find him when he showed up on the sidewalk in front of the Ministry's main entrance, he was naked, unconscious, bound up in something called 'Duck Tape' and had his wand shoved somewhere that a wand shouldn't go. Also he had a three word message tattooed on his forehead; it simply said "Leave us Alone". It took three days, two memory spells and working with a pensieve to figure out what happened to him."

"And that was," Fleur tried to keep the glee she felt at what had happened to that jackass out of her voice.

"First of all, it appears that he was able to negotiate several of the wards before tripping one that he didn't realize was there. When this happened he was confronted by a young girl. He went for his wand and was physically subdued. After that there are only periods of consciousness followed by being beaten into unconsciousness again after he is a little less than polite."

Fleur didn't need to see Kingsley's face to know that the man was smirking at the treatment Dawlish had received, and at the rather unprofessional attitude he had taken to being made captive. She could imagine what he'd said before being pummeled.

"What is odd is that they didn't seem to be asking him anything substantial when he was lucid enough for questioning."

"So, they weren't aware of who or what he is; or they are aware and just didn't care." Fleur thought for a second, her blond brows knitting, "The second option is rather scary, isn't it?"

"It is."

"So you want me to go back there and see if I can do better?"

"Yes"

"And what makes you think I could, the man is a creep, but Dawlish is a very good Auror."

"True, but I'm hoping that the fact that you're neither human nor non-human will confuse their wards. Additionally I've borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak, so you should be set for getting in and out."

"And if I'm captured?"

"Well, there's always your secret weapon," he said; referring to her Veela status, it would allow her to escape from most situations.

"There is that," she said with a sigh. To her it was much more of a curse than a blessing. Yes, she was very attractive and yes, she could manipulate people when she wanted; but too often it was used against her. Did Fleur get a promotion, well everyone knew what that was all about, did she get recognized for her work, it must have been because she was a you know what as opposed to the fact that she did damn good work. Even in her personal life; when a man agreed with her, was it because he thought she was right or because she'd inadvertently unleashed her power? It was an unspoken wish of hers to find someone that was unaffected by the nature of what she was, but she knew that it wasn't going to happen. "So when am I off and where am I going?"

Kingsley smiled, he knew she'd go for it, he hated sending her off on something so dangerous, but they needed to know what was happening at that castle. "Well," he said, pulling out a map; "it would be best if you started out . . . ."

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Fleur had found the castle easily enough, but she was becoming more and more disheartened as she observed the security measures that were in place. The wards she could see, but there were also physical barriers that would be difficult to get around, even if she was invisible. She'd been trying to find a way in for an hour or more when she sat back against a tree and looked up. In the sky was a circling hawk that suddenly dove down at a duck that was moving from one lake to another. The duck took to the air and the chase was on. Fleur watched, fascinated at the aerial display when she realized something; the two birds were flying around the castle, inside the wards. A smile came to her face as she realized how she was going to get in.

She was moving slowly for a couple of reasons; one was that she didn't want the invisibility cloak to ripple and possibly give her away, the other was that she didn't know if there were wards operating up here and she didn't want to slam headlong into one and be knocked off her broom. So far it had gone easily enough, but she wasn't getting complacent. After a slow descent, she settled down near a secondary entrance, stashed her broom and waited for someone to use the door. She stood there silently, and soon enough her patience was rewarded. Three girls came out the door and headed off chatting away about dinner. Not that she heard a lot of the conversation, as soon as they were clear, Fleur ducked through the rapidly closing door and breathed a quiet sigh of relief, she was in the castle. It was immediately obvious that she'd come in the kitchen entrance, the ovens and other accoutrements made that clear. What was also clear was the probability that this was not a wizarding kitchen; there were too many modern conveniences and no house elves. Despite that, she still needed to be sure, so she moved on, out of the kitchen and into the living areas of the castle. As she carefully moved about, it was clear that most of the people here were young women; she was easily older than ninety percent of the people she saw. It was also clear that despite her invisibility, Fleur had to be very careful, the sheer number of girls there and the speed at which they moved made it difficult not to be discovered. That and many of them seemed to look at where she was, then look away; as though they'd caught something out of the corner of their eyes and were checking out what might be there. Quietly Fleur worked her way into a corner where she wouldn't be bumped into accidentally and thought. This was probably not the lair of some rogue Death Eaters; however what was here was something outside of Fleur's experience. She didn't understand what she was seeing, but the fact that they were using a type of magic that she wasn't familiar with made this a situation that required a more in depth look. So instead of trying to find a way out, Fleur went about trying to find someone over the age of eighteen. She carefully moved around the few areas that she was familiar with, keeping her eyes and ears open for any hint, but after a while she hadn't found anyone who looked to be in charge and was getting heartily sick of the rather shallow conversations going on around her. Finally, though, she heard one girl call to another, "I'll be there as soon as I drop off my patrol report."

Now Fleur had no idea what a "Patrol Report" was, but she figured that you didn't leave it with just anyone. Taking more chances than she normally would, Fleur followed the young woman until they came to a door. It was a door that, while not concealed, blended in so well with the architecture that it was very difficult to notice. Fleur was forced to move quickly, and darted into the open door very soon after the girl. Where they were was a hallway with several doors opening off of it. The girl darted to the second doorway on the left, knocked once and entered in the same motion. Fleur moved down to where she was past the doorway and waited for the girl to leave; what little she saw as she moved past the open doorway looked to be an office of some sort. Soon the girl zipped out of the office and headed back down the hallway while tossing a, "bye Xander," over her shoulder. Taking advantage of the open door, Fleur eased into the office and looked around. It looked like a typical office; there were file cabinets, a bookcase, several chairs and a rather large and messy desk. All told it was innocuous looking. The man behind the desk; however, made up for the boring normality of the room. He was large, and well muscled, at least the parts she could see. He had dark hair that looked like it had been recently cut and deeply tanned skin. There were laugh lines around his mouth, and crinkles around his eyes, rather make that eye; because he was one short. He was wearing an eye patch that covered his left eye. He was also wearing a dark T-shirt that said "Twinkie the Kid" on it. Fleur had no idea who or what "Twinkie the Kid" was; and over that he work a loose open shirt that was a garish combination of some rather blinding colors. He looked like no one she'd ever seen and she found herself just standing there watching the man work. After a few minutes, he looked up and gave the open door a glance; sighed, and got up and moved around the desk. As he moved, Fleur learned something else about the man, he was dangerous. The grace with which he moved, almost flowed, across the room spoke of a proficiency in the martial arts and the muscles told her that he was strong enough to do a great amount of damage with that knowledge. Unfortunately, Fleur was so taken up in her observations that she didn't realize that he was closing the door until it was already done. Now she started to panic just a little, her quick escape just went away and she was stuck in a room with someone who she considered dangerous. On the plus side, she was invisible so stunning the man while he was unaware was a real plan. She felt a little bad about attacking someone without reason, but Fleur ranked her own safety much higher than a little bit of dirty pool. Fleur became aware, again, of her own surroundings once she'd firmed up her plan of action in her mind. Unfortunately she discovered that the man had not gone back to his desk as she'd supposed he would, but was instead, standing in the middle of the room and looking right at where she was. She thought it was a coincidence right up until the moment he spoke.

"You'd be more comfortable sitting down," he said moving again behind the desk. Fleur was shocked, there was no way he could have detected her, this was one of the Deathly Hallows, the absolute finest invisibility cloak in existence. She stood there frozen, half convinced that he had been bluffing when he shrugged his shoulders and went back to the paperwork on the desk, but was speaking at the same time. "Coming in from the sky was a smart play, the wards are thin up there and one person is too small to show up on radar. We detected you, but just barely. I'll give you points for stealth, and playing it smart and not relying on just your invisibility."

"So what gave me away," Fleur asked, walking forward and sitting down while she pulled the cloak over her head so her face and hair were visible.

"In the future, you might want to think about a silence spell. You swish a bit when you move as well as your breathing and other little noises. They all combine to give you away. The big thing though, is your smell."

Fleur was shocked to hear this. "Excuse me," she said.

"Your smell," he stated again, "if you're gonna do this right you need something to mask your natural odor." He smirked at her, "not to mention laying off the peach scented shampoo and the lavender soap; dead giveaways."

Fleur sat in the chair, fuming for a moment or two. She was embarrassed at being caught. Here she had thought she was being so quiet and clever and they'd known she was there the whole time. Suddenly the evening's events added up for her, "I was lead here wasn't I?"

The man nodded.

"Why?"

"Because we need to talk," the man replied, "but first there's a few things I've got to take care of."

With that his voice and his eye changed, and Fleur saw two things in the man's eye, regret at what was about to happen, and the resolution to do what he was about to do anyway. Realizing that something was about to happen to her, Fleur aimed her wand at the man, the words to the stunning spell racing through her mind; but she was too late. The object in his hand, that she thought was some kind of stapler; fired a couple of darts into her body. Then there was nothing in her mind but fear. She heard a crackle, like lightning, and just that quickly her body was no longer in her control. She couldn't move the way she wanted, she couldn't even think clearly; everything seemed to be scrambled. She sagged out of the chair, falling bonelessly to the floor. She could feel her consciousness fading, and the last thing Fleur was aware of was the man leaning over her body and whispering, "I'm very sorry."


	2. Confidential Information

**Confidential Information**

A/N Sorry, something I should have added to the first A/N is the fact that the chapter titles are all lyrics from the Dire Straits song "Private Investigations"; which just happened to also provide me with a title for my fic. I don't own or have any rights to the song or Dire Straits (but boy, do I ever wish I did). Also a few of you might be wondering about Fleur's accent. I tried to writ her speech patterns that way, but everything came out sounding like the French from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. So lets just pretend that the intelligent young woman taught herself to speak better English; OK?

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Fleur woke up slowly; she really wasn't sure what had happened to her so she wasn't doing anything quickly. Actually, she was doing fine until she tried to raise her arm, then suddenly everything seemed to hurt. She gasped in pain, but before she could get more than that out, there was someone helping her. Strong arms around her, easing her body into a sitting position. She turned her head to thank whoever it was, but was taken aback when she saw that it was the one eyed man, the one that had hurt her in the first place. She tried to jerk away, but agony shot through all her muscles.

"Hey, hey, relax," he said, "you move too quickly and you're gonna wish you were out of it again."

Fleur glared daggers at the man, and he had the gall to actually look embarrassed. "Sorry about zapping you like that, but I really do need to talk to you, and that wasn't going to happen with you waving your wand around while thinking you were in mortal peril, now was it?"

Fleur sighed and reigned in her temper; reluctantly she had to admit that those circumstances were not the best for starting conversations. Apparently he could see the reluctant agreement in her eyes. "So what was that thing," she finally asked.

"That was a Tazer, or stun gun; it's used to subdue someone without doing permanent damage. And yes, I know it hurts a lot, I've been hit with the thing a time or two myself."

"Why?"

"Long stories; and not really relevant right now."

"Fine then, where am I?"

"Scotland."

Fleur glared at the man, her eyes flashing blue fire. "I know that much and I know I'm in a castle, but where in the castle am I?"

He gave her a cheeky grin, "you're in my room for now. I mean if you want we could throw you in the dungeon, but I figured that my couch would be a lot more comfortable than down there."

Fleur panicked for a second when he said that they were in his room, but she was fully clothed and her limbs were not restrained in any way, so she concluded that he wasn't thinking about any sort of unwanted violation. Actually, Fleur was rather conflicted at the moment. He had knocked her out, but he had done so reluctantly, she remembered that much. He had made sure that she was comfortable and was currently supporting her with his rather strong arms. Part of her wanted to just snuggle back into his comfortable bulk, and the other wanted to hex him into the middle of next week for what he'd done to her. Trying not to let her confused nature show, Fleur simply said, "thank you, no; this is fine."

"Cool," he said, then stood up slowly, taking her hand with him. "You probably need to stand up now and get everything back to working order. But remember, do it slowly, fast movements hurt."

Fleur followed his advice and slowly got to her feet. He was right; moving slowly didn't hurt nearly as much as rapid or jerky movements. She gave him a smile for his consideration and slowly walked around the room. As she did so, her body returned to normal function. As she finished her self assessment, she asked the man, "Who are you?"

A look of chagrin came over his face, "sorry, I forgot my manners, my name is Alexander Harris, and I'm the Chief Field Watcher for the Reformed Slayer and Watchers Council."

Fleur was confused, Alexander acted as though she should know what this Council was, but she'd never heard of it before. "I've never heard of this council."

"Really, you've never heard of Watcher's, Demons or Slayers?"

Fleur thought, her blond eyebrows knitted, "I have heard of Demons, but only in a few instances. I have never seen one personally, and as for Slayers; that is familiar but I cannot remember where I heard it."

"Then sit down Miss Delacour and allow me to explain everything."

Fleur was halfway down into the chair when it hit her, he'd used her name, and she didn't recall giving it, nor was it on her anywhere. "How do you know who I am," she asked.

"I'll explain that later, right now it's enough that I know who you are."

"And what is it you know about me?"

"Well, I know that you're French, you graduated from Beauxbaton Academy, you were quite instrumental in the defeat of Tom Riddle, you are currently an Auror under Kingsley Shacklebolt, you are one quarter Veela; which, by the way, we refer to as an Amoura demon, and you've got a younger sister that you love very much."

"What . . . . How . . . .," she spluttered. Fleur was horrified that these strangers knew so much about her.

"As I said, I'll explain that later, right now I need to tell you a story. The Earth is older than you know, and contrary to popular myth . . . .. . . . ."

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Fleur wasn't sure what to believe. She sat there as this man spun his story of good and evil, of heroes and villains, of phenomenal victories and crushing defeats, of monsters that roamed the night and the girls that fought them. She wasn't sure if she believed any of what he was saying, but she was sure that he believed it. He finished his story and was sitting there, looking at her as she tried to process everything she'd just heard. "Not ready to believe me yet, are you?"

"No, I am not," she replied.

"Good, if you'd said yes then I'd know you were lying. But as for proof, just wait a moment." With that he got up, moved to the door and whispered something. He stepped back and a young girl followed him into the room. Fleur vaguely remembered seeing her as she was sneaking into the castle. She had been one of the girls that had left through the kitchen and allowed Fleur to enter. She gave Fleur a glance that was equal parts warning and envy. The envy part was for obvious reasons, but Fleur couldn't understand what the girl was warning her about until she noticed how the young woman looked at Alexander. It was then clear to Fleur that if she did anything to hurt the one-eyed man; that this girl, and probably most of the others in the castle Fleur guessed, would make sure that the punishment was severe.

"This is Nicole," he said indicating the young girl, "Nicole, this is Fleur. You're both from the same part of France," he told the younger woman.

"Neat," the young girl said, feigning boredom. "So what do you need Xander?"

"Crow bar," he replied.

She nodded and left the room for just a few seconds, then returned with a long piece of iron. Fleur watched as Alexander took the bar from Nicole and tested it by trying to bend it. It was obviously solid. He passed it to Fleur. "Try to bend it please," he asked.

She raised a skeptical eyebrow but did as he asked. It was indeed solid. He took the metal from her and handed it back to Nicole, who promptly bent it into the shape of a pretzel. Fleur goggled at what she'd just seen. Nicole was not overly muscular and there had been no magic, she had just bent the thing like it wasn't even a challenge. "How is that possible," Fleur asked.

"Thank you Nicole," Alexander said and he ushered the girl out the door. Then he turned to Fleur, "she's a Slayer."

"You spoke of Slayers in your story, what are they exactly. I know I've heard the term before, but I just can't seem to place it."

"A slayer is a girl who is mystically empowered to fight demons. Since the main demonic presence on Earth are vampires, the term is usually Vampire Slayer. For centuries there was only one, and when she died another was called. A few years ago, though; we were forced to change the rules and now there are hundreds all over the earth; fighting and dying to keep this world spinning. As to where you've heard the term before," he began as he headed over to the bookcase and took down a copy of Skamander's Gazetteer of Magical Creatures, it was a book that was regularly used to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. Opening it he said, "You probably remember the term from this." He then started reading from the tome, "Slayer, a psychotic killing machine in the form of a young woman. They are known by their resistance to injury and superhuman strength and speed. Research has uncovered no useful function for these creatures, so the recommendation is to kill upon detection for general safety." He glared at her, his one eye blazing, "with so many slayers in the world now, your world and mine are bound to collide. If that happens and a girl ends up dead, well lets just say it would be the last mistake the person that killed her will ever make. Now we've talked to the appropriate governing bodies of most countries, but only Britain and a few countries in Europe refuse to alter the status of Slayers, maintaining that they are indeed creatures and not people. So the main reason you're here is to convince your superiors that recognizing that slayers are human beings is in their best interest."

Fleur was stunned, the ministry actually considered these girls as creatures, on par with flobberworms and nifflers. "I did not know that they believed this," she explained. "I will of course verify this but if it is so, then of course I will speak to my superiors."

"Thank you," he said. "Both our groups seem to be working towards the same end; it would be a shame for us to end up at each other's throat over something so preventable."

"That is true," she replied, "I am curious, though as to what the other thing is."

"What other thing?"

"You said having me convince my superiors was the main reason I was here, so what is the other reason?"

He actually looked a bit uncomfortable at that. Finally he replied, "Well, I was gonna offer you a job."

"What?"

"I wanted to offer you a job, working with the Council."

"But why, you have witches already, the wards alone make that clear."

"True, and the magic users we have are great, but they specialize in ritual types of magic and that isn't something that really works in a combat situation. You, however, can cast a wide variety of spells quickly with little or no preparation. That kind of magic use would be invaluable in the field. I would like for you to go on a patrol to see what the girls do, and so that we could see what you can do as well."

"I will think on it," she said. "But first, how do you know so much about me, about us?"

"What happens to someone from a magical family that has no magic, or at least not enough to make a wand work?"

"I do not know," she replied, her blond brows knitting in confusion at having her question answered by another question.

"Are they still accepted as part of the Wizarding World?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because, as you said, they cannot work with a wand."

"But they can still do magic, just not your preferred brand."

"I did not know that there was any other type."

"So they're exiled from the world that they've grown up in?"

"I suppose."

"And how happy do you think they are, being thrown out of the only world they know because of an accident of genetics?"

Fleur thought again, she really hadn't considered what happened to Squibs once it had been determined that they couldn't use wands. She knew that one or two still functioned in the Wizarding World, the odious Mr. Filch leapt to mind, but she honestly had no idea what most of them did. As she thought some more, the truth hit her. This Council must be using Squibs, and they were telling all they knew about Wizarding society from the important down to the mundane gossip. What was worse was that they could renew their information by simply talking to their families and asking about their days. Fleur's eyes widened at the realization that the Statute of Secrecy had been breached and no one, outside of herself, knew about it. Fleur decided that this information couldn't wait, so it was time to escape. Reluctantly she focused on her Veela self and began to project at the one-eyed man.

"You really want to let me leave now, don't you," she asked flirtatiously. Alexander just sat there, looking at her as though she'd gone insane, so Fleur increased her effort. Then suddenly she was hit with overwhelming feelings of adoration. She would do anything for him, his slightest whim was more important to her than her own life. Without thinking she threw herself on top of him and began raining kisses down on him. He overbalanced and hit the floor with Fleur on top, not that she minded in the least. That way she was even closer to him. Suddenly she heard footsteps and then hands were grabbing her, pulling her away from him. She fought and cursed her unseen assailants, but they had overmatched her and there was nothing she could do. Despite this realization, she kept fighting, trying to get back to him.

"What is it with you and demon girls Xander?"

He looked up at Dawn, who was grinning down at him while Michelle and Abby were restraining Fleur. "I guess it's just my winning personality there Dawn," he replied. Then he looked over at the two slayers, "I think she tried to hit me with some kind of persuasion mojo; just take her out of here for three minutes or so and see if reality re-asserts itself." Grinning as well, the two manhandled the yelling Fleur out the door.

"So do you think she'll come to work for us," Dawn asked.

"I hope so," Xander said as he got up off the floor. "She's smart and talented and she's got guts. When you factor in that the idiots she works with treat her like a second class citizen, I'd say its better than even money that she decides to work for us."

"Because in a combat situation she'd toast anyone else that we've got except for Willow, and I think she'd give the Willster a run for her money."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, you should see how quick these wand types are at slinging the mojo."

"Well hopefully she'll get over her infatuation with you and go out tonight on a patrol."

"Yeah, hopefully."

Just then the door opened and a chagrined Fleur walked into the room. She took one look at Xander and blushed to the roots of her hair. Dawn gave a little giggle at the display and left the two of them alone again.

"I must apologize Mr. Harris," she began.

"Xander."

"Excuse me."

"Please call me Xander or Alexander if you must; I really don't like being called Mr. Harris."

Fleur sensed that there was quite a story there, but she pressed on. "As you wish then Alexander, I must apologize for my actions; I don't know what came over me."

"My guess is that you tried something and it backfired. Mind magic just doesn't work on me anymore; if you try the outcome is totally chaotic.

Fleur blushed even deeper; something Xander didn't know was possible. "Again I must apologize."

"No big deal," Xander said. "You found something out and felt that you needed to get back and tell someone in charge. I understand. Unfortunately I can't let you go do that just yet."

"Then I am a prisoner here?"

"No, it just means that we still need to talk about the possibility of you taking a job with us. It's not something that you just do; I need to lay everything out for you so you can make an informed decision. Then there's the patrol that I hope you'll go on. Then you're free to leave."

She suddenly smiled at him; this man that she'd barely met was treating her with more respect than ninety five percent of the Wizarding World. When you combined that with the probability that he was immune to her mental suggestions, and that he was quite good looking in a rough hewn kind of way; there was no way that Fleur was leaving here any sooner than she had to. "Very well," she said as she sat down. "What would this job entail?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fleur stood by the side of the road, looking back at the castle. She had her broom, cloak and wand, but she had no idea what to do. She needed to talk to Kingsley and tell him that this wasn't the hideout of some hold-out Death Eaters; but what would she tell him that it was. She could say it was a girl's school; that was true enough. But then she'd have to explain about the wards and the revelation that there were different types of magic. She wasn't sure how that would be taken. Not to mention the revealing the war that was going on, the nature of Slayers and the fact that there were a lot of them now. Could she convince the Wizengamot to leave them alone, or should she even do that. What would happen when it was let out that this group knew everything that was worth knowing about Wizarding society, and the fact that they had this knowledge was the society's own fault. She could feel that change was coming, and that was never a comfortable feeling. As she prepared to apparate back to London, she idly wondered when she'd see Alexander again.


	3. The Game Commences

A/N First of all, I want to thank everyone that has taken the time to read my story. I was surprised at how quickly this chapter came out, but it just seemed to write itself. Here's hoping my muse keeps em coming.

**THE GAME COMENCES**

Fleur's thought about not being comfortable echoed in her mind, because that perfectly described her current situation. She was standing in front of a group of Wizards and Witches, telling them about what she'd found out. Two things bothered her. One was that she was being treated like some sort of criminal and having everything she said dissected. Two was that of all the people that were instrumental in the destruction of, and continuing hunt for, Death Eaters; only she and Kingsley were present. The rest were bureaucrats and politicians, men and women who hadn't risked much, but then swept in and took control after all the hard work was finished. In a way that was their own fault. The people that had done the fighting really had no interest in running things; they just wanted to be left to live their lives. But the result was that these self important twits were the ones left in charge. None of them were on Fudge's level, but several were close.

"So Miss Delacour, after you gained entrance to this man's office he disabled you?"

"Yes sir, he used a device he called a 'tazer' that shot electricity . . . . .," here she paused because some of the people on the committee looked confused. "Like stored lightning," she explained. As everyone nodded in understanding she continued. "This caused my muscles to not function for a while and I was unconscious for a moment or two."

"Did the man harm or threaten you?"

"No sir, he apologized for his actions, helped me recover and then explained who he and his organization were and what they were there for; but he had taken my wand."

"Ah yes," Walter Abbot interrupted, "these Watchers and Slayers that were in your report."

"Yes sir."

"All muggles were they?"

"All that I met were."

"Thank you Miss Delacour, please continue your story."

"Then they asked me to go with them on what they called a 'patrol'. I would have called it a hunting party myself because that is what they did. They hunted out their enemies."

"These Vampires and Demons that were in your report?" asked Eloise Greengrass.

"Yes ma'am."

"Was anything you found familiar to you?"

"No ma'am, but earlier Mr. Harris did let slip that what we call Veela, his group refers to as an Amoura demon. So there are obviously some creatures that are familiar to both groups."

"Indeed, please continue."

Fleur thought back to what had happened. After all it wasn't every day that your view of the world got stood on its head.

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She followed Alexander through a maze of hallways until they came out into an open room that rivaled the Great Hall at Hogwarts. But this room was filled with training equipment, weapons and girls; lots and lots of girls. Silence fell over the room as they walked in, all eyes on them. The girls looked at Xander with unbridled affection, and glanced at Fleur with warnings and intimidation in their eyes. Fleur followed as he moved to the center of the room. "OK," he spoke, "in addition to our regular patrols, I need three of you that are off tonight for a special job." They were nearly trampled by the horde of girls that converged on them. Xander surveyed his volunteers with a smile; they were all such good kids. "Alright; Nicole, Katryn, and Sarah. You are with us," he spoke to the rest of the girls, "get some rest tonight, you'll need it tomorrow." Then his eye got severe, "Millicent, what the heck are you doing here? You're supposed to be on bed rest for two more days."

A young girl with a mop of curly brown hair who was no more than fourteen looked chagrined. "Sorry Xander, but I got so bored."

"I'm sure you did," he replied, "but the Doc told ya to rest, and she doesn't say that for the heck of it. So head back to the infirmary and have her check you out. If you're bored, I'll let Dawn know so you can give her a hand with research."

Fleur watched as the young woman blanched and left, accompanied by a few grins, and a few looks of sympathy as well. She turned back to Alexander and the three young women. "We're just gonna take a little stroll through Cleveland tonight," he announced. "They know we're coming so don't worry on that score. We're taking Fleur here to show her what we do every night and so she can show us what she can do as well." At the three questioning looks he told them, "She uses magic, but not the kind that we're used to. I've asked her to show us what she can do because she might be taking a job with us." Fleur was the recipient of three much harder glares, but no one said anything. Fleur followed Alexander and the girls to a part of the hall that was clearly an armory. There the girls were given swords, knives and stakes; except for Katryn, she preferred an axe. The older man who was handing out the weapons handed Alexander a small pack and an axe without being asked, then his eyes flicked to Fleur and back to the one-eyed man.

"Can you use a sword," Alexander asked.

"I can," Fleur replied. Her Uncle had taken the time to train her with weapons and she'd taken quite well to the sword. The older man looked her over for a moment then reached back and pulled out a basket hilted epee. It was a light weapon, but the edge was sharpened to a dazzle. He handed it to her with a quirk of his eyebrow; it was not quite a challenge. Fleur took the weapon and backed off a bit; then she ran through an exercise that she remembered. The epee seemed to dance in her hands; it was a wonderful weapon and one of the finest she'd ever held. She fixed the older man with her gaze, "Thank you." The corners of his mouth turned up in a brief grin, then he turned and left the five of them alone.

"Alright, we need to head out," he said. Then he turned to Fleur, "that's your back up," he said, indicating the epee, "I'll give you your wand when we get there."

"Where are we going again," she asked as she followed the three young women.

"Cleveland."

"Why there," she asked, some confusion showing in her tone.

"Because that's where the Hellmouth is," Alexander replied.

This was a term that Fleur was familiar with. She'd done her final paper in Defense Against the Dark Arts about Hellmouths and how to deal with them. Unfortunately the best she could come up with was 'get away as fast as possible'. It was not the most heroic of options, but it was the one that seemed to assure longevity. And now she was willingly going to one. She was blindly following the others while her mind wandered, so it was with a little surprise that she noticed that everyone else had stopped. She felt power building up around them but it was a power that she wasn't familiar with. Fleur looked around and noticed that the diagram on the floor was glowing. It flared and when her eyes were working again, she could see that she was standing in a suburban street, and it was clearly not in England.

"What was that," Fleur asked, obviously shaken.

"Teleportation circle," Xander answered as he scanned around them for trouble.

"That felt like nothing I've ever done before," Fleur continued.

"What can I say," Xander replied, "different magic, different methods, they're gonna feel different."

Fleur wanted to continue, but at that moment one of the girls stiffened and pointed. "That way," she said, and they all took off at a run.

It was by turns one of the scariest, craziest and most exhilarating nights of Fleur's life. It was like someone had taken all of the Triwizard tasks and condensed them into one event. She soon found that 'Lumos Solem' did quite a number on vampires and that 'Scetusempra' cut just about anything and what it didn't cut, her epee would. After five hours of near death experiences punctuated by some of the most interesting conversation Fleur had ever engaged in, Alexander waved them to a rather dark alley. He pulled them all close, pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial. The light flashed again and they were back where they'd started.

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"We were transported to Cleveland Ohio, my wand was returned to me and we fought various demons for the next five hours. After we were finished we were again transported, this time back to the castle. I was then handed my broom and invisibility cloak and escorted off of the grounds. I waited until no one was around and apparated myself to my flat, cleaned myself up and then reported to my superior."

"Miss Delacour, you said you were transported to the United States. Was this by floo, or a portkey or by apparation?"

"None of them sir."

"What do you mean," Mr. Crowley asked.

"I was told that it used a different type of magic than what we use."

This caused a incredulous silence to fall on the room.

"I beg your pardon," Amelia Bones spoke for the first time. "You were told that it used a different type of magic?"

"Yes ma'am and I believe it as well. I could feel the magic working, but it felt very different than when one of the methods you mentioned. I would have been able to tell if it was simply a variation on what we use, and it was nothing like that. The magic was completely unique to me."

This bit of news created a lot of reactions. They ranged from fear to incredulity to excitement. Finally Amelia Bones seized control of the room.

"That is something that must be looked into," she stated. "For those of you that are skeptical, I would remind you of Ms. Delacour's record and credentials. She is not prone to fantasy and she was the Auror on site." She turned back to Fleur. "Do you think that these muggles are a threat to us?"

Fleur thought about her answer. Finally she replied, "No, they are not, but they could be under the proper circumstances."

"What would you say were the proper circumstances?" Kingsley rumbled out.

"If we threaten them, then they will retaliate. And they know a lot more about us then we do about them."

"What do you mean," Madam Bones shot back.

"Alexander recognized me and called me by name when I was captured. He knew things about me that few do. I think it would be safe to assume that his organization has knowledge of much more than one Auror."

"How is this possible," roared Angus MacMillen, "how has the Statute of Secrecy been breached?"

"Alexander didn't say," Fleur replied, "and I don't think he would have if I had asked."

The members of the committee were in a froth over this news. The speculations and accusations rang back and forth at both high speed and high volume. Amelia Bones sat there thinking as the other members raged around her. She did not like the position she was in. They needed more information in order to know how to proceed. Finally she came to a decision, nodded to herself and then re-asserted order in the room.

"Miss Delacour, do you have a way to contact this Alexander again?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then do so. Find out what he knows about these 'other types' of magic. We will have someone go through our archives as well to see if there are things that have been forgotten. Also see if you can get him to divulge the source of his information." Her gaze softened, "I know that this will be dangerous, but it is vital."

"It won't be dangerous if it's just me," Fleur replied. "I cannot emphasize enough the enormous value that their organization presents as allies but if we break faith with them then they could be the most deadly enemies our world could ever face. Let me speak to him without interference or subterfuge and I believe that we will discover what we need."

Amelia looked at the young Auror, her eyes seeming to bore into the other woman's head; finally she sat back with a sigh. "Very well Auror Delacour, contact this Mr. Harris and set up a meeting as soon as possible. Keep the committee informed about the time and places for your own security and then report to us what you discover."

"Yes ma'am," Fleur replied. Then she turned and left, only then letting a secretive smile light up her face. She would hopefully be seeing Alexander soon.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So, what do you suggest," Eloise Greengrass asked her friend.

"I suggest that we let the little French tart get this muggle somewhere that he will feel safe. Have a Legilimens there to read him, and if that doesn't work we also have some people waiting in the wings to grab him and then we'll see exactly what he knows."

"And if he is harmed or killed?"

"One muggle more or less, what's the difference," Sarah Goldstein replied.

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Xander hung up the phone, a bemused smile on his face.

"You look happy."

He looked at the other person in the room, "that was Fleur."

"She wants a meeting?"

"Yeah."

"You think it's about the job?"

"Maybe, but my guess is that the folks in charge have a lot more questions. So this'll be a fishing expedition."

"Trap?"

"From her, no. But it might be a good idea to have a few of the girls there, just in case some higher up decides to get pro-active."

"Are you sure you should do this?"

"Come on Dawn, it's a date with a hot part demon girl. A night of romance, intrigue and the possibility of beating the snot out of some jerks."

"Of course," Dawn said, rolling her eyes, "how could you say no?"

"Exactly."

"Think they'll expect trouble?"

"From me, no chance. I'm just a . . . what's the word; muggle after all. To their way of thinking, there's no way I could be a threat."

"Muggle, Squib," Dawn sighed. "Why can't they just say people?"


	4. This is My Investigation

**A/N** I'd like to take the time to thank everyone that has read my little tale and even more thanks for those who have reviewed the story. Your feedback is invaluable.

**THIS IS MY INVESTIGATION, NOT A PUBLIC INQUIRY**

Fleur was uncomfortable again and she didn't like it one bit. Despite the fact that she'd pretty much been uncomfortable in one way or another since meeting Alexander, it wasn't the kind of thing that dulled with repetition. Right now she was sitting in a restaurant in Mugg . . . . that is Non-Wizarding London waiting for Alexander to show up. Contacting him had been easy enough but for the first time since puberty, Fleur Delacour felt nervous when talking to a male. She had stumbled and stammered her way through an invitation for dinner, and asking him to pick the place since she wanted him to be at ease. Only afterwards did Fleur realize that she had no idea what to wear. Robes certainly wouldn't be appropriate, and the only non-Wizarding clothing she was used to was formal wear; and this meeting, and Alexander, was decidedly informal. In a tizzy, she had found Hermione Granger and asked for the younger woman's help. Together they had gone shopping with Fleur letting Hermione pick out what would be correct for the occasion. Fleur wasn't happy with what Hermione had picked out, even if it did look good on her. The blue pants were a bit stiff, and were much tighter than anything she'd ever worn before. They constricted her in areas that she wasn't used to being constricted in. The top had too many buttons for her taste and didn't quite come down to the top of the pants, leaving a strip of skin visible. Fortunately her hair and skin were flawless, as usual, and that helped boost the woman's flagging confidence.

So now here she was, sitting alone in a place she'd never been before, wearing a type of clothing that she'd never worn before and waiting for a man that she was supposed to interrogate in a public place. She was about ready to pack it in, mission or no mission when she saw Alexander walk in the door. She was quite taken with the man, but she couldn't quite figure out why. Yes, he was handsome enough, but she'd known many handsome men. Perhaps it was his confidence, he seemed to be perfectly aware of and was comfortable with, who he was; both his strengths and weaknesses. It could have been his bravery; he certainly had that in abundance. Whatever it was, something about the man intrigued her greatly and she was quite willing to put in the time to get to know him better. She stood as he approached and she noticed his clothing. He was dressed much the same way as when she'd first seen him in his office, only this time the tight shirt said "Dingos Ate My Baby", whatever that meant; and the loose overshirt was much more subdued. He froze when she stood up, his eye widening when he took in her outfit. Fleur reminded herself to thank Hermione when she saw the younger witch again.

After a moment, he started moving forward again until he was standing right in front of Fleur. "You look amazing," he said.

"Thank you," she replied. "You look very nice as well." They stood there for a minute, just looking at each other; then Fleur snapped out of it. "Shall we sit?"

"Sure," he said, then held her seat before taking his own.

"Have you ever been to a place like this before," he asked.

"No," was her terse reply.

"Do you trust me to order for us both?"

"Certainly."

"Do you like beer?"

"No, I just never had a taste for it. I couldn't even drink butterbeer when I was a student."

"Good enough then," he said and turned to the waiter that was hovering near them.

"We'll have a large with Ham, Onions and Peppers; and two Cokes."

The waiter just nodded and headed off to get their drinks. "So have you been busy," he asked.

"Yes, you gave a lot of people quite a bit to think about."

"I bet," he paused then his eye locked onto hers. "Is our little rendezvous because you want to see me or because you were ordered to see me?"

Fleur blushed and looked away as she considered the question; finally she turned back to Alexander. "Both; I wanted to see you again, and the people in charge encouraged me to do so."

Xander sighed, "Look, I know you and the folks above you have got a lot of questions about our organization and we don't really have a lot of questions about your society. Believe me, I've got the concept; but honestly, I'm here to get to know you."

Fleur was surprised; actually she might even be amazed. He had known that she'd be interrogating him and he was willing to put up with that for a chance to get to know her. "How about," she suggested, "quid pro quo? I'll answer a question then you will." The waiter picked that time to arrive with their drinks so Fleur picked hers up and toasted him with it, "are you game?" She took a swig of her drink while he thought it over, but when she got her first taste of Coke, Fleur found that she couldn't think about much other than what she'd just drank. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever tasted, it was sweet and tart and the bubbles tickled her nose. Fleur's face lit up in a smile, she wanted to thank Alexander for introducing her to this wonderful thing but all that came out of her mouth was; Buuuuuuuurrrrpp. Fleur immediately turned a shade of red that would be the envy of every fire engine in the world then looked up in horror at what Alexander's reaction.

Xander sat there in stunned silence, not really believing what had just happened. Then he saw Fleur's horrified face and there was just one possible reaction, he started laughing; the kind of laugh that comes from deep inside and just seems to energize the soul.

Fleur went from being embarrassed to being angry. This buffoon had the nerve to laugh at her. She opened her mouth to let him know just how angry she was, and found herself laughing as well.

"That was very ladylike Miss Delacour," he said when he could finally speak again.

Her only response was to stick her tongue out at him in a spectacular burst of immaturity.

Alexander chuckled again, "OK Miss Delacour, quid pro quo; and I'll even let you go first after that little display."

Fleur took a small sip of her drink, "you mentioned other types of magic, what types are there?"

"Well as best we can figure, magic breaks down into five basic types. You've got Innate, Mind, Earth, Blood and Divine. Now Innate is your type, you use a focus to channel power from your magical core. Mind magic is more where you use your mind to focus your magic. Now mind magic is only effective in a very few areas, like telekinesis, precognition, and hypnosis. Meditation and other mental conditioning exercises can help out in this area. Then there's Earth magic or Wiccan magic if you prefer. The practitioner taps into the power of the earth to power their spells. Earth magic is mostly concerned with healing and balance but it can be useful in other areas. Blood magic is powerful and very easy to misuse. In this one the practitioner taps into the vital force contained in blood for power. It's good for destruction and vengeance. Finally is Divine magic, here the practitioner calls on a god to do what the mage wants it to do. This is usually through some sort of sacrifice or offering. Now this one is very versatile, but a lot of these beings are really temperamental so one wrong word and then you're in a world of hurt." Then a horrified look crossed his face, "Oh my god, I've turned into Giles."

"Giles?"

"My mentor and a good friend. He was always one for the lecture and I was all for sleeping through them." He noticed Fleur staring at him. "Is something on me," he asked.

"No," she replied, "that was just fascinating to listen to." Then she straightened up, "alright, your turn to ask."

Alexander thought for a moment. "What's your favorite color?"

Fleur looked at Alexander for a moment, not really sure that he'd just asked her what he had. "Did you just ask me what my favorite color was?"

"Yeah."

She thought for a moment, it was a question she'd really never given any conscious thought. "Yellow," she finally said, "a golden, sunshine yellow."

"Cool, so next question."

Fleur thought about it, then launched into her next question about the world of Demons and Slayers.

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William Jensen wished he was anywhere except where he was. He was sitting in a muggle restaurant watching an Auror of questionable loyalties interrogate her subject. The laughter from the couple suggested to him that she wasn't exactly using high pressure techniques. He looked away in disgust; he was just a muggle, she should have just lured him away, used the Imperious curse or a Crucio or two and gotten what she needed. Then he would be able to go back to where the food and the money made sense instead of waiting for her to either succeed or fail. William watched as the young man stood up and pointed to the back of the restaurant; the French girl thanked him and left, leaving the man alone for the moment. William decided that this was too good an opportunity to pass up; focused his gaze on the young man and cast Legilimency.

William looked around; he was standing in a clearing in a forest. He found it interesting that everyone's mindscape was different; idly he wondered what the significance of the forest was. Then things changed; as he was standing there the sky darkened and as quick as thought, it was night. William peered into the sudden dark, trying to find which way to go. His examination was interrupted by a rising growl from the dark around him. William's eyes widened, this was new and not very welcome. He could sense a presence out there, some sort of guardian that was stalking him. William focused his power, trying to see what was out there. Suddenly the mindscape lightened and he saw an enormous animal approaching. He wasn't quite sure what it was until it gave out a laughing bark and broke into a gallop. The fear was so great that William couldn't concentrate enough to pull himself out of the mindscape, so he ran. He could just barely see where he was going, but the sound of the beast behind him spurred William on. Suddenly he spied a building off to his left, with the door towards him. Quickly he changed direction and made for it. He could almost feel the beasts breath on the back of his neck as he came to the door. He muttered a quick prayer as he grabbed the knob. It was unlocked so William jerked the door open, dove inside and shut it behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the lock click into place, he was safe. He still couldn't see anything so he pulled out his wand and muttered "Lumos". He almost wished he hadn't. William found himself standing in the middle of an extensive mirror maze and there was no door to be seen. 'This isn't good,' he thought.

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Xander watched as Fleur headed to the bathroom, specifically he watched her backside as she headed off; it was a very nice backside. He sat down, thinking that she was probably the most beautiful girl he'd ever met, seeming to combine the best aspects of Faith, Buffy and Cordelia. He felt a tickle in the back of his mind. Xander glanced around the room, trying to figure out what was going on when a man at the bar collapsed. Considering that the man was wearing a combination of purple, electric blue and lime green, Xander figured that it was a good bet he was a wizard. Which meant that the tickle he'd felt was this clown trying to get into his mind. Xander sat back down with a quiet chuckle; he didn't envy the guy having to deal with what he and Alpha had cooked up.

Fleur smiled at her image in the mirror; fortunately bathrooms didn't change much between the Wizarding World and the rest of the world. She couldn't remember a time when she'd enjoyed herself more. She'd found that Alexander had a silly streak in him that just tickled her sense of the absurd. It had been hard for her to concentrate on her assignment because she was laughing so much. One other thing that had endeared Alexander to her was that he seemed genuinely interested in her, as opposed to what was the easiest way to get her out of her robes. Fleur finished up and headed back out into the restaurant. Sitting down she asked, "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"I believe one of your shadows had an accident," he replied.

"What, where," she asked, looking around.

"Guy by the bar passed out, right after I felt something in my head. If I had to guess, I'd say he was trying to read my mind."

"What makes you think he was from . . . . . my world?"

"Well he was wearing normal clothes, but the colors were definitely unorthodox."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he was wearing a bright green shirt with electric blue pants and a purple hat, belt and shoes."

Fleur thought for a moment, "did he have blond hair and a little beard?"

"Yep."

"You're right, that was William. What happened to make him pass out?"

Here Alexander blushed. "I've got a little trap in my mind. If anyone tries to read me they end up in a mental construct of a mirror maze for twenty four hours."

Fleur goggled at him. "How did you manage that?"

"That's a long story," he looked at his watch, "longer than we've got actually." He looked up at her, "do you want me to walk you to the ministry?"

Fleur just nodded.

As they were walking down the street Fleur cleared her throat, there was one question she'd wanted to ask but hadn't been able to come up with a graceful way to do so.

Alexander smiled and glanced down at the woman next to him, "just ask, I'm used to it."

She looked up in shock, how had he known what she'd wanted to ask. But then she realized that everyone Alexander ever met had been curious about what had happened, so she took his advice. "What happened to your eye?"

Alexander looked surprised himself, and even a little grateful. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"Most people ask me how I lost it, like I mislaid it somewhere. You didn't, so thank you." They walked in silence for almost a block before he started talking. "It was an end of the world situation. Something calling itself the 'First Evil' had assembled an army of uber-vampires behind the Hellmouth and a bunch of eyeless guys out in the real world. The kicker was this evil priest that had been physically hyped up. The guy was a psycho that hated women and loved to just hurt people. Anyway, there was this powerful widget down in this winery, so we decided to go in and get it. It was a trap, and we were getting our asses kicked so we went to retreat but this maniac had gotten his hands on this girl named Kennedy. She was young and scared and most importantly to me, she was Willow's girlfriend. Willow's been my best friend since we were in Kindergarten and there isn't anything we wouldn't do for each other. So when I saw this girl that she cared for about to be killed, I went in and got her out, but the psycho guy got a hold of me. He could have killed me, I knew that when I made the decision to save her; but he didn't. He called me 'The One Who Sees', then gouged my eye out; he thought it was funny."

Fleur listened to this with a quiet amazement. She was not amazed that Alexander was brave; she knew that already; no she was amazed at the fact that he would willingly risk his life for someone he barely knew because she was important to a friend of his. "Did you ever regret it?"

"Never."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You've got to understand that me, Willow, Buffy, Giles, Dawn, heck even Faith; we've been through so much together, we're so close that there isn't one of us that wouldn't willingly give our lives for any of the others. Sure we fight and get pissy with each other from time to time, but in the end there isn't anything that we wouldn't do for any of the others. Kind of like your trio of Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger."

Fleur digested that, but then looked at him sharply, "How is it that you know so much about us?"

"I think you already know the answer to that question."

"So how did you get . . . . relatives of Wizards who can't do magic to work for you."

"Well first of all, you're wrong to think that they can't use magic. They can, it's just that they don't have enough power to activate a wand. Anyway it's kind of a funny story. I was taking a couple of newbies through London when we came across someone fighting off a couple of vamps. We couldn't figure out if it was a really burly woman or a longhaired guy in a dress. Long story short, we saved him and he followed and asked us what had happened. Turned out his name was Tiberius Malfoy; and man the guy has serious anger issues. Once he found out that he could do magic, even if it wasn't the same as he was familiar with, he volunteered to be a watcher. Heck he practically begged us for the chance. Once he came on board he passed the word, apparently there's a network of people that have been excluded from the Wizarding World. It works out well for us, we get people that are tougher and better prepared than our usual trainees and they're all magic users of one type or another, and they're already used to the weird and unusual. That and they collectively hate your guys guts, so they tell us everything we need to know about your society."

Fleur thought about this as they walked. She found it ironic that a society that was so obsessed with secrecy had just allowed all of that information to be available to anyone who asked. "So where is Mr. Malfoy now?"

"Australia," Alexander answered, "he wanted a place with tea, but it had to be as far away from England as possible. He's a blood mage, and a good one. It lets him channel his anger. Heck, he's even getting used to working with us muggles, and being polite about it."

Fleur tried not to laugh, a Malfoy that willingly worked with muggles. The whole notion bordered on the impossible. She turned to look at Alexander's face as they walked. It was not a face that would be considered classically handsome, but there was character there. Character that had been shaped by trials that were much more arduous than those she'd experienced. He thought she was attractive, Fleur could see it in the way he looked at her. But it seemed to her that he was more attracted to the person that she was rather than just her appearance. Fleur glanced around and realized that they were almost at the ministry; she didn't want the date to end, but knew that it had to. She turned back to him, "thank you for the evening Alexander."

He smiled down at her, then slowly raised her hand and kissed it. "The pleasure was all mine Miss Delacour. I look forward to seeing you again."

"You would want to see me, even though . . . . ?"

"Even though you're using me to get information; yes I would. You're an amazing woman Fleur, and I would love to get to know you better."

"Thank you Alexander," she murmured "I believe I would like that as well." Then she placed her hand on his cheek, leaned in and kissed him. The kiss lasted a sweet eternity, but then he pulled back from her.

"I hate to break the mood, but there seems to be several of your compatriots that are surrounding us."

Fleur looked around; sure enough there were six examples of the rougher element of the Wizarding world surrounding them. She turned back to him, scared that he might think she had something to do with this. His gaze pierced her for an instant, but then she saw him relax and give her a soft smile.

"Any time girls," he muttered.

Suddenly there were other forms in the dark. Then Fleur heard the yells of combat and the sound of fists hitting flesh. One of the toughs managed to fire off a spell in Alexander's direction, but all this got him was simultaneous hits from three different sources. He groaned and collapsed like the rest of his compatriots.

"Thank you ladies," Alexander said. Then he turned back to Fleur, "until the next time Miss Delacour." Then he walked off into the dark with his honor guard. Fleur looked around at the unconscious men; it was all she could do to suppress her laughter.


	5. Checking Out The Report

**CHECKING OUT THE REPORT**

A/N: I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone that has taken the time to read review or slap an alert on this story.

This time Fleur was more angry than she was uncomfortable. Yet again she found herself standing in front of the Security Committee of the Wizengamot like a penitent schoolgirl who is forced to see the headmaster; standing silent as her every word, gesture and action were dissected by people that had no idea of what her job really was like. She had finally had enough of their carping and petty insults. 'No more miss Nice Girl,' she thought.

"So what specifically did this Alexander ask you, Miss Delacour?"

"That is not relevant," Fleur snapped back. "I have already testified to you that I divulged no information that was vital to the Wizarding World. What I would have added, if you hadn't interrupted, was that there was no need for him to ask me anything vital. As was suspected and as I have already communicated to this committee, he and his organization already know everything there is to know about us."

"How is this possible," huffed Angus McMillan. "Is there some sort of spy in our midst?"

In answer, Fleur turned to another member of the committee. "You have a brother that cannot use a wand, is that not so," she asked Eloise Greengrass.

The question took the woman by surprise, but she quickly answered, "Yes, my brother Evan has no magic."

"That isn't quite true," Fleur replied, "but we will discuss that in a moment. For now, do you know where your brother Evan is or what he is doing?"

"No," the woman looked confused now. "Why would I, he is just a Squib."

"Do your parents speak to him?"

"I would suppose."

Fleur stood silently after this exchange and let the others work through the conversation and its purpose. Not surprisingly it was Amelia Bones that worked it out first. Her eyes widened and she blurted out, "Are you saying that Evan Greengrass has broken the Statute of Secrecy?"

"I suppose you could look at it that way," Fleur responded. "However, since he was excluded from the Wizarding World, I doubt the Statute applies to him anymore. And to be clear, there are more than just Evan Greengrass out there. Most of the people that we have excluded from our society have found employment with Alexander's group. And since they have very little regard for us and our biases, well they have told Alexander all that they know about our world. The reason he didn't ask me anything vital is because I doubt that there is anything I could tell him that he doesn't already know. I would hazard a guess that he knows more about what goes on in our world than most of our citizens."

"The fault for this lies on your shoulders," Angus McMillan exclaimed, rounding on Amelia Bones.

"No," Fleur yelled out before Amelia could reply. "It is not simply her fault. It is yours and mine and every person in this room. Indeed it is the fault of our entire society. We have allowed ourselves to believe in our innate superiority, and this has blinded us to the abilities of those we consider our inferiors. Just because Evan Greengrass cannot use a wand does not mean that he is useless."

"But he cannot do magic."

"He can do magic you fool, he simply cannot do it with a wand." Fleur took advantage of the shocked silence that followed her outburst. She held her right hand out, palm up; sprinkled in a mixture of herbs and muttered, "Spheris Incendiere." A ball of fire appeared in her hand and sat there, burning merrily away.

The collected Wizards and Witches were speechless. The girl had created a fireball, but she had not used her wand. They knew that wandless casting was possible, but it wasn't what the girl had done. She had used weeds and words, and not even the right words for a fire charm.

"There are more types of magic than just what is capable with a wand," she said quietly to her stunned audience. Then she dismissed her fireball. Alexander explained to me about the different types of magic and where they draw their power. And even if a person is unable to activate a wand, they can still do one of these other types. So that allows those of our people that have been excluded from our society access to what we claim they do not have. Obviously this makes them both grateful and loyal to Alexander's organization."

"We must put a stop to this," gasped Sarah Goldstein.

"How," Fleur replied. "To do so you would have to be willing to either kill those people we have excluded already or to attack a powerful organization that we know very little about but is quite well informed about us. It is time to face the truth Ladies and Gentlemen; we have put ourselves in this position. We have left ourselves with two choices, either continue to live as we have and endure the constant fear of exposure or fundamentally change our ways and adapt to this new reality. We do not have a monopoly on magic, its time we stopped acting like we did." Fleur's attitude changed and she fixed the assembled Witches and Wizards with a fierce glare, "there are those of you here that already know that Alexander's organization cannot be dealt with ham handedly."

"What do you mean Auror Delacour," Amelia Bones asked.

"What I mean Minister is that during our meeting last night, a Wizard attempted to use Legilimancy on Alexander and later a group of Wizards attempted to take him by force. All of those that attempted the assault were rendered unconscious and one required extended healing spells and potions at St. Mungo's. The attempted Legilimens was still incapacitated the last time I checked. Two attacks in one night beggars coincidence and since this meeting was only known to the people in this room, that means that someone here orchestrated those attacks."

"Are you accusing someone in this room of treasonous behavior Auror Delacour?"

"No ma'am, I'm saying that someone here jeopardized my mission and my life by being short sighted and foolish. I told everyone here that there wouldn't be a problem unless we broke faith with Alexander and his people. Someone here decided not to listen and now I have to try and rebuild his trust in me and in us. We have barely scratched the surface of what he and his group knows, and now; because of one or more of you fools, we may be cut off from further information." Fleur's hostile glare was answered by several from the committee. Not that it really mattered but she wondered who had given the go-ahead for last night's foolishness.

"Do you believe that Alexander will still speak to you Auror Delacour?"

"I hope so Minister, but I am not certain."

"Please contact him and attempt to resume meetings with him, let us hope that last night's damage is not irreparable."

"Yes Minister."

"As for the members of this committee, I would urge you in the strongest terms to not interfere in these proceedings. We are adjourned."

As she left the chamber, Fleur allowed herself a small smile. The Minister trusted her; now all she had to do was convince Alexander to do the same.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Xander hung up the phone and turned to Dawn, "that was her."

"I figured that from the smile on your face. So what did she have to say?"

"That she's sorry for what happened and she didn't have anything to do with it."

"You believe her?"

"Yeah, I do. When everything went down I watched her expressions. She was scared and angry but I didn't see any guilt or satisfaction. If I had then I never would have taken a call from her again."

"Well you are the one who sees after all."

"And don't you forget it missy."

"So what's the plan this time?"

"Well I'm not really sure. I mean they're not real big on entertainment. They've got that one sport, they read and listen to the radio, and I've heard chess and a couple other games like that mentioned. But no movies or TV, no amusement parks or that kind of thing, no sports other than that broomstick one; so I'd say there's a lot of options."

"So what are you leaning towards?"

"Bowling."

"Really, I can't see miss snooty being one with the rent-a-shoes."

"What makes you say she's snooty?"

This was difficult for Dawn, she'd cared for Xander her entire existence and like Buffy and Willow, she was very protective of him. A side effect of this was that she was instantly on guard against any other female that was interested, and she knew that the wand waving French girl was most definitely interested. She knew that her attitude wasn't really fair to Xander, but she was old enough to understand that fair wasn't always a consideration and that you were never to old to be childish. "It's just the way she carries herself," Dawn answered finally. "Like royalty that's decided to spend some time with the common folk."

Xander thought over what Dawn had said. "I can see that," he finally replied. "But I can think of several reasons for that. First is the part demonness, that might be what you're picking up on. There's also the fact that she's both talented and hot. I imagine she's been treated like a princess her whole life."

"So what is it about her that has you so hot for her? I know she's pretty, but you always look past that, so what do you see?"

"What I see is a little bit of every girl I've ever really cared for. She's as beautiful as Cordelia with a heart to match; she's got Willow's empathy, Faith's passion, your sister's sense of duty and your smarts. I also know that she's got the strength to handle the real world, to me that adds up to the perfect woman."

"But are you sure?"

"No, but if I don't give it a try, then I'll never know." He stood and walked towards the young brunette. "Thanks for playing 'Devil's Advocate' here, but I also know what you're not saying. You're afraid that she'll take me away or something like that, but you've gotta know that after all this time, I'm not going anywhere. I also know that you wish it was you that I was interested in, and in a way; so do I. It would make things a lot easier. But you know we tried the dating thing and as much fun as we had and as much as we care about each other, it wasn't going to happen."

"But why not?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes," was the reluctant reply.

"Because as much as I love you, and I do; there just wasn't that passion between us. It was pleasant and comfortable but there was no fire. I hate to say it, but you're kind of in the same boat as Willow. I love her more than life itself, but I have no passion for her and without that, well any relationship beyond friendship just wont last."

Dawn sat there, looking at the floor as tears slowly leaked from her eyes. She'd asked why, and he had answered. As Dawn was sitting there, she suddenly felt strong arms around her and she was pulled into a warm hug. "I am sorry Dawn, I wish I could give you what you want, but that would be a lie and that's one thing I won't do to you."

"I know," she choked out. "Thank you Xander." The two friends sat there motionless until Dawn was once again back under control. Seeing this, Xander got up and quietly walked to the door. "Call Willow," he said, "and have her explain the situation to all the folks that came from the Wizarding World. I want her to put tracking spells on everyone just in case. I also need you and Andrew to go through the archives. Both groups have been in England for over a millennia, they must have interacted before. Find out what happened and most importantly, if there's a treaty or agreement or something like that." He sighed, "I've got a feeling that this is all far from over."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So what is this again," Fleur asked. She was feeling a little awkward without her robes again, and the noise and crowd didn't help at all.

"This is called bowling," Xander replied. "It's a lot more popular in the US than it is here, but I thought you might like it."

"So we're supposed to throw these things down there and knock over those white things?"

"Yep, without stepping over that line or throwing it in the gutter."

"What's a gutter?"

"Those grooves on the side."

"Ahh, and this is supposed to be fun."

"No, it is fun. Unless you happen to take it way to seriously, but that's true about anything isn't it?"

"True, so why are we really here."

"One, because its fun and you need to lighten up a bit; two, because anyone from your world would stand out like a sore thumb's sore thumb. No one can listen in over the noise and there's too many people around for anyone to try anything. It's as close to isolated as we're gonna get."

Fleur looked at him strangely, "Why do you think I need to lighten up Alexander?"

"You rarely smile or laugh Fleur." His hand reached out and caressed her cheek, "and all that frowning gives you the wrong kind of wrinkles."

Fleur gave him a dazzling smile, then punched him in the arm.

"What was that for?"

"You have all these women friends, but you don't know that you shouldn't comment about wrinkles. I believe that they have been deficient in your education."

"Not so, they've been quite diligent, you all just keep changing the rules all the time."

"All the better to keep you treating us well Alexander."

"As you deserve," Xander said with a little bow. "Now, more bowling and less flirting."

"You do not want to flirt," Fleur said with a small pout.

"I said less, not none," Xander replied. "Now you hold the ball like this . . . . ."

Fleur didn't pay a lot of attention to what Alexander was saying; instead she was relishing the feel of having his arms around her. They did talk about demons and monsters; in fact Alexander recounted the entire incident with Glorificus. But Fleur was having trouble focusing, bowling and flirting were both quite distracting. All too soon the evening was over. The two of them were walking back towards the Ministry, secretly Fleur wished they were heading for her flat, but she knew that they weren't ready for that just yet.

"So what did you think of bowling?"

"It was fun, and I promise to smile more often."

"Good, you're too pretty to be as gloomy as you were."

Fleur looked away. "It is difficult some times; to look the way I do and have people think my face is all there is to me. It is hard to be happy much of the time."

"I had a friend, Cordelia; we dated for a while. She went through the same thing. Everyone expected her to go to College long enough to snag some rich husband and spend the rest of her life being ornamental and giggling on command."

"So what happened to her?"

"She stopped caring so much about what other people thought and became an incredible person. She received visions to guide a champion for good, and she chose to keep receiving them even though she knew they were killing her. She was dead before she turned twenty five, but I never knew a person who so confident in who they were."

"She sounds like someone worth knowing."

"She was, and I was just telling someone earlier today about how you remind me of her."

"Oh, in what way?"

"Your heart is much like hers; she kept it secluded, but if you were lucky enough, she allowed you to see the depth of caring she was capable of."

"Thank you Alexander," Fleur said. "For the evening and the compliment."

"The evening was my pleasure, and the compliment was merely the truth," Xander said gallantly. Then he leaned in and dropped a light kiss on Fleur's lips. Her arms circled around his neck and she deepened the kiss. All too soon they both had to come up for air.

"I look forward to seeing you again Alexander."

"I'll even let you pick the time and place Fleur," he replied. Then he turned and walked away. All too soon he was lost to her sight. With a small smile, Fleur turned and headed into the Ministry, she had a report to make and a date to plan.


	6. You Meet All Sorts In This Line of Work

As always, I'd like to thank everyone that has read, reviewed or otherwise acknowledged this story's existance; I appreciate the time and effort. It goes without saying, but I have no proprietary claim on either BTVS or the works of JK Rowling; but I really wish I did.

**YOU MEET ALL SORTS IN THIS LINE OF WORK**

A week later Fleur took Alexander to a Quidditch match; The Holyhead Harpies against The Pride of Portree. Her purpose was actually twofold; one was to have fun, which they did. It was difficult for Fleur to properly enjoy the match since she was bombarded with Alexander's rather droll commentary on the game, the rules and the fans. Here he didn't make many friends since they were playing on the Harpies home pitch and he felt that he should be favoring Portree since both it and the council were currently based in Scotland. But Fleur also wanted to test Alexander, in a way. Many men will claim to be open minded but fail to live up to that claim when put "under fire" as it were. Using her considerable influence, both as an Auror and one of the people instrumental in the defeat of Voldemort; it was a simple thing to be able to meet some of the Harpies after the match. Fleur knew that compared to the rest of Wizarding society, the members of the Harpies were wildly unconventional and independent minded. Alexander claimed to not have a problem with strong willed women or unconventional situations, Fleur wanted to see how he did with women who didn't know him or know of him.

It was fun for Fleur to watch as Alexander questioned the traditions of the game, most especially when he asked the Keeper why she didn't wear substantial pads or a helmet. He argued that it would give her a longer career, reduce her injuries and insure that she would be less likely to be put out of a match. It was this discussion that provided the only tension of the evening when Marion Mordrane, the Harpies captain, joined the conversation.

"Why should we take advice from you, you're just a muggle?"

Fleur saw Alexander turn on the woman with a fiery glare, and for just an instant she could see a bit of the beast that she knew lurked under Alexander's smiling façade.

"You should listen precisely because I'm from outside your society."

"What do you mean," the Keeper fired at him.

"Because I'm from outside, I see things with a different perspective. We like to call it 'thinking outside the box'. If you always approach situations from the same perspective, then you become predictable and beatable and unable to respond to unique situations. Don't misunderstand," he said forestalling any protest with a raised hand. "I'm all for tradition, it's what gives our lives a framework, but if we keep doing things simply because its what tradition dictates and not thinking about the why's and wherefores, then we're not thinking any more." Then he turned to Marion directly and pinned her in place with a glance, "as Captain you should never give up any advantage simply in the name of tradition. Moreover, it's your job to take care of your players and you should be willing to do anything to insure their well being, even tell tradition to 'go hang'. Even Muggles know that," he concluded; the unspoken accusation hanging heavily in the air.

The silence was deafening as Marion glared daggers at the one eyed man, but Alexander matched her glare and didn't give an inch. Finally the woman glanced away, a sour expression on her face. "You might have a couple of good suggestions there," she muttered.

Fleur glanced at Alexander to see what his reaction was to Marion knuckling under the way she had. To her relief there was no gloating or superior look on his face, instead he almost looked proud of the woman, the way a teacher will when a student works out a difficult problem.

Marion felt a hand lightly on her chin and soon she was looking into the man's one eye. There was warmth there, but under that was a knowledge that scared her in a way. "I've had to learn all this the hard way," he told her, "hopefully you'll learn from my mistakes and not have to make them yourself."

"Thank you," she replied. "You're an unusual man Alexander; you make me wish that we were both a bit freer than we are."

He blushed a little, "you're just saying that because I'm currently on my best behavior. If you caught one morning me with about three day's worth of beard, before I'd had my first cup of coffee, you'd change your tune pretty quickly."

Marion was working to hold back a laugh, "I'm shocked to find that you're right yet again."

Fleur laughed herself as Alexander's eye widened in mock outrage and he started sputtering, which broke the serious mood that had dominated the room. Conversations picked up again and Fleur noticed, much to her amusement, that several of the Harpies were throwing speculative looks in Alexander's direction.

Later, Fleur aparated them to magical London and they started strolling in the general direction of the Ministry. "Where did all that come from," she asked.

"All of what?"

"That dissertation on the perils of blindly following tradition, where did that come from. When you spoke there was so much passion, and anger in your voice that I knew there was something specific that had triggered it, I was curious as to what it was."

They continued to walk in silence and Fleur started to get nervous, afraid that she'd somehow crossed a line that she shouldn't have. She was just about to apologize when Alexander spoke.

"Back when there was just one slayer, they had this traditional test called the Cruciamentum; it's Latin for torment. Anyway, what they would do is strip a slayer of her powers on her eighteenth birthday and have her fight a vampire. If she died, well there was always another slayer. We always thought that it was insane, but then we were Buffy's friends and so we were a bit biased. When we started putting the Watcher's Archives back together we found a lot of correspondence between Watchers that pretty much agreed with us but any attempt to end the Cruciamentum was shouted down with cries of 'It's Tradition'."

Fleur was stunned but soon found her voice, "why would they do something like that?"

"You've got to understand that the old Council was all about control. It's very easy to control a young girl, especially back in the day when women were treated like second class citizens. But as this girl gets older, she becomes harder to control; she begins to question and to notice inconsistencies. So the Council came up with this 'test'. If the slayer had been a good dobee and not rocked the boat, she got a fledgling or something that was near enough to it. Don't get me wrong, the survival rate was appalling, but if the slayer was getting a bit too independent, then a more lethal vampire was used. Just so you know, the one Buffy got was a psychotic master vampire. The thing is, even for the survivors the message was clear; do what the Council says or they'll arrange your death. As a group they were so power hungry and corrupt that there are times that I want to bring back the First Evil and thank it for taking those bastards out. Another effect of their 'tradition' is that they refused to look at any weaponry more modern than the cross bow. I don't even want to think about how many girls lost their lives pointlessly because a bunch of old men that had never risked anything in their lives felt that only traditional weapons were appropriate." He walked along silently for a moment or two, no doubt cursing the former Council members. "Anyway, all that's changed now. No more test, the slayers are partners now, not just weapons. And as for weapons, well we're willing to give anything a try once. Like I said earlier, you can't keep doing the same things; you gotta keep your enemies guessing."

"That is one reason you wish to recruit me, yes?"

"One reason, yeah. The bad guys get used to the magic that we use and they're better able to counter it. Bringing in a couple of you wand wavers would keep the advantage with us for years."

"What others were there?"

"Huh?"

"What other reasons," she paused. "Why me and not someone else?"

Alexander turned to look at her, seeming to weigh what he was about to say. "Because you're good, you're smart; you don't just rely on your magic, but mostly because you're strong."

Fleur rolled up her sleeve and looked at her arm; it was quite fetching but would not be considered overly muscular. "Where is all this strength?"

Alexander laughed, "not here," he said touching her arm; "here," he touched her lightly over her heart. "To do what you do, struggling every day to help people that wouldn't give you the time of day simply because it's the right thing to do. That takes an immense amount of character Fleur. And that's why I'd like for you to work for us, because you're one of the strongest people I've ever met."

Fleur was almost breathless when Alexander had finished. Any doubts she'd had were blown away by both what he'd said and how he'd said it. She wanted to tell him all this but currently her brain wasn't functional beyond basic life support. Finally she managed to squeeze out, "thank you Alexander."

He just nodded, never looking away from her face. They just stood there, gazing into each other's eyes like some star struck lovers in a cheep movie, but this was real and there was a second or two of pure communication where each knew everything vital about the other. Unfortunately things like this couldn't be sustained and Fleur broke first. She took Alexander's hand, turned in a new direction and headed off with him in tow. They didn't talk because anything they would have said would have been superfluous. Eventually she stopped and said, "well, we're here."

Alexander looked around and said, "Fleur, we're no where near the ministry."

"No," she replied, "this is my flat. Would you like to come up?"

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

"Then yes, I'd love to."

Wordlessly they climbed the stairs to the third floor. Fleur fumbled with her keys before managing to get the right one in the lock. Honestly she couldn't believe how nervous she was, because she'd never been nervous in a situation like this before, but it occurred to her that it had never been this important before. She turned as the door opened and Alexander darted forward and claimed her lips in a searing kiss. Refusing to break it, Fleur backed into her flat, when unexpectedly the lights came up.

"So where have you been and who is this," a young voice asked.

Fleur's eyes widened as she spun to face their questioner. "Gabrielle, what are you doing here?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Xander figured that if he didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all. A bit cliché maybe, but it did seem to apply in relation to his love life. Here he was on the verge of what could possibly be the love of his life when her family shows up, even if it was just a fifteen year old Fleur clone. He knew that Fleur's sister was just worried, but the girl could have won the poor timing award for the next three years just for this one intrusion. And if that wasn't bad enough, she refused to leave; preferring to give Fleur the third degree and talk about him as though he wasn't there. Honestly Xander was ready to turn this brat over his knee and give her a non-fun type spanking, but Fleur was pretty much on the same page as Xander and was letting Gabrielle know it.

"What is there to say, we hadn't heard from you for a while and some of the family was worried."

"You mean you played on Mother and Father's fears and talked your way into a free trip for yourself because you were bored."

"I was worried," then she glared at Alexander, "and with good reason I'd say. Where did you find him, on the docks somewhere? What are you doing with a muggle?"

"The proper term is person, if you can't remember that then you are no longer welcome here; is that clear?"

Gabrielle rocked back a bit at this; she'd never been so soundly rebuked by her sister. "Yes, I'll remember; but now you need to explain what this . . . person is doing here."

"Alexander and I care a great deal for each other and that is all the explanation I owe you," slamming the door on further enquiry.

Gabrielle looked deeply into her sister's eyes and didn't like what she saw there. "Well that is remedied easily enough," she exclaimed, pulling her wand.

As soon as she did, Alexander stood and pulled something from under the jacket he was wearing, but even more importantly her sister was standing in front of her, wand drawn and pressing into Gabrielle's neck. "Don't," was all Fleur said but the pure cold fury that was clearly visible on her face scared Gabrielle more than she'd ever been in her life. Fleur was making it clear that this muggle was important enough to her that she was willing to hurt her own sister to protect him. Slowly Gabrielle put her wand away, eyes wide with trepidation at the rage Fleur was directing at her. She backed away and sat down in the armchair, never taking her eyes off Fleur.

Once Gabrielle was seated, Fleur put her wand away and turned to Alexander. "I'm so sorry; this isn't how I wanted this night to go."

"Me either," Alexander said with a grin, "but unfortunately I'm kind used to it by now."

"Will I see you again," Fleur asked, voicing her greatest fear.

"Count on it," Alexander replied. "Actually there was a Council trip next weekend that I was going to invite you to. The invite's still open, you can even bring your sister if she's willing to come down off her high horse and be around a bunch of 'muggles and squibs'."

Fleur smiled, it must have been difficult for Alexander to sit there and listen to Gabrielle without saying anything but now he was getting in a dig when he could. "Of course I'll be there, and I'll see what I can do about bringing a guest."

"Sound's like a plan," Alexander said, then he leaned forward and gave Fleur a kiss that was both passionate and restrained. The kind of kiss that promised much more. He was almost out the door when he turned, "I almost forgot, the shindig is on some island the Council owns in the tropics somewhere, so dress for the beach."

"I will," Fleur promised. "Goodnight Alexander." When the door had closed and she could no longer hear his feet on the stairs she turned to her sister with a much less pleasant look on her face.

"Why did you stop me," Gabrielle asked when her sister was facing her. "I was just going to modify his memory a bit."

"And if I hadn't stopped you then he might have killed you," Fleur said matter of factly.

Gabrielle started to chuckle nervously in disbelief but soon stopped when she saw that her sister was completely serious. She sat back down again, stunned at the implications of her sister's statement. Finally she looked up at Fleur, "just who is this Alexander?"

So Fleur told her. It took most of the night.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dawn was still awake when Xander made it back to the castle. "So, how did it go," she asked, but then the look on his face answered her question. "What happened?"

"Well we had a fun evening watching that crazy sport they play on broomsticks. We met one of the teams after the match; it was an all female team. I think she wanted to see how I'd handle it."

"And?"

"Well there was some tension, but no diplomatic incidents."

"Unlike Mali."

"That was so not my fault."

"That's a debate for another time, so you were charming but not letting yourself be a doormat."

"Yeah, so after that we're walking home and instead of the ministry, she takes me to her apartment."

"Well you're home to early for any good stuff to have happened, at least if Anya was right, so what derailed the nookie train?"

"Her sister was there."

"Ohhhh."

"Yeah, take the worst parts of Cordy and Kennedy and put it in a fifteen year old with a princess attitude."

"Yuck, so you didn't kill her, did you?"

"No, I was letting Fleur handle it until she decided she'd just zap my memories."

"Did she get a shot off?"

"Nah, Fleur was in her face even before I had the Tazer ready. Let me tell you, that girl is scary when she wants to be, I mean we're talking PMSing Buffy levels of scary."

"Damn, no chance you caught any of it on your phone."

"Sorry, I was lost in admiration at the time."

"I bet," Dawn paused, "she threatened her sister over you didn't she; I mean seriously threatened?"

"Yeah."

"She's got it bad."

"That makes two of us," Xander replied. Then he headed off to bed, leaving Dawn deep in thought.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As she filled in her sister on the entire situation, Fleur became aware of something, something that surprised her. She found, as she talked, that she was echoing many of Alexander's sentiments concerning the Wizarding world. She compared how she regarded it now with how she had regarded it before she met Alexander and realized that her sentiments really hadn't changed that much, she was just much more forward in expressing herself. Gabrielle certainly noticed. "What makes you say such things Fleur?"

"It's the truth Gabrielle, all I'm doing is telling the truth."

"I cannot believe that it is as bad as you say."

"Really, then how were you treated at the Floo exchange when it was revealed that you were part Veela?"

Fleur saw her sisters eyes unfocus as she recalled the incident. Then her eyes snapped back into focus as a look of rage appeared on her face. "And you must deal with such things every day? How can you stand it?"

"It is difficult, but I have excellent motivation."

"Alexander?"

"No, it is you, you little imp. If tolerating rude behavior makes the path you walk a little easier, then that is more than worth it."

Gabrielle was speechless, the realization of what her sister was willing to tolerate for the benefit of others humbled her.

The next day, Fleur was at the ministry, meeting with just Kingsley and Amelia Bones. "I have been invited to a gathering of Slayers and Watchers; I think it best if I went."

"Why," Kingsley asked, even though he thought he knew the answer.

"It will give me a chance to see if Alexander's views represent the majority or if they're an aberration. I would also get a chance to see exactly which Squibs are working for Alexander's group, that way we can control information by keeping related families out of the loop."

"Both good reasons," Madam Bones said, "do you know where this will be?"

"No, Alexander only indicated that it would be in the tropics and that it was an Island owned by the Council, so I would expect wards and such to be around it."

"That would make it impossible to apparate out in case of an emergency."

"True, but she could have something on her that was a port-key, something voice activated maybe," Kingsley put in.

"Would it be just you," Amelia asked.

"I'm not sure," Fleur replied. "My sister has been invited also, so I'm checking with our parents to see if she can come along. I think it would make things smoother if she came. And she's quite good for her age. If things went bad, there would be two of us helping each other and not just one person alone."

"Are you sure you wouldn't want someone else, someone more experienced?"

"I would, but only Gabrielle and myself have been asked. I don't want to break faith with Alexander and there are still things that his organization can teach us."

Amelia Bones looked out her window for a moment, debating the merits of the plan in her mind. Eventually she faced the other two people in the room. "You may go Miss Delacour, whether your sister accompanies you is up to your family. See Devin Gamble in the magical transportation department for an appropriate port-key. Kingsley, if you would stay for a moment, there is another matter I'd like to discuss with you."

"Certainly Minister," he rumbled; then turned in his seat to watch Fleur leave.

"Is she in love with this Alexander, Kingsley?"

"I'm honestly not sure Amelia."

"More importantly, is she still loyal to the Wizarding World?"

"For now she is. But I can see the doubt growing in her. And to be honest, there is a lot of truth in what she says about how our society functions, or doesn't as the case may be."

"I know, but I would like steady evolution, not revolution"

"I agree Minister, but she is young and quite idealistic still."

"I know Kingsley," Amelia paused, "just keep an eye on her. I don't want to, but we may have to act. It wouldn't stop things, but it would slow them down."

Kingsley looked troubled but nodded, "I'll keep an eye on her Amelia, you can count on that.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

One Week Later, on an uncharted tropical island (but not Gilligan's Island).

They both staggered out of the teleportation circle. Fleur wasn't quite as disoriented as her sister; after all, she'd been through it before. The heat hit them next. A second or so before they'd been in Scotland, now it was about fifty degrees warmer and so the robes that had been weather appropriate were now way too heavy. They looked around, trying to figure out where they should go to change, but no direction really looked promising.

"There's a little bungalow off that path to the left," a voice behind them said. "I bet you'd both like to get out of those robes." The two sisters turned to see a willowy brunette and a shorter, darker haired girl. "I don't know if you remember, but I'm Dawn Summers and this is Nicole, we're your escorts for the day."

Fleur grimaced a bit, but couldn't really object after all if the situations had been reversed she would not allow Alexander's friends to walk around Diagon Alley without someone keeping an eye on them. "Thank you, and yes, I do remember you Miss Summers, even though I was not at my best at the time." She turned to say something to Gabrielle but Nicole was walking away with the young blond, the two of them chattering away in French. "So where is Alexander, I'm surprised that he's not here."

"Something came up quickly and he had to deal with it, he should be here soon."

"In the mean time you get to interrogate me without him interrupting."

"There is that, but I prefer conversation to interrogation. This is more of a getting to know you rather than threaten you so you stay away."

"I see," Fleur said, falling into step next to Dawn. "So who else will be getting to know me?"

"Aside from me, there's Willow, Faith and Buffy. Be prepared for Willow, she's a Wicca and will talk your ear off about magic. That's not so bad except she talks faster than anyone I've ever met so it's a little hard to understand her at times. Buffy and Faith are both slayers, so expect the whole aggressive thing from them. You'll also run into a lot of new Slayers, they're kind of protective of Xander so don't be surprised if they're a lot rude."

"I understand," Fleur said as a small house appeared in a clearing ahead. "You all care for Alexander and do not wish anything to happen to him."

"Right, but you really shouldn't say that word."

"Which word," Fleur asked, a bit confused.

"Wish."

"Why not?"

So Dawn told her.

Later they were on the beach, just enjoying the sun. Fleur was in a rather conservative two piece while Gabrielle had gone for the Brazilian look, Dawn and Nicole were somewhere in the middle. None of them worried about burning due to some consenstual spell casting by Fleur. The two younger girls had gone off, seeing what there was to see while Fleur and Dawn chatted about neutral subjects. Suddenly Fleur was aware of three other people nearby. Turning she saw a petite blond; a curvy, sultry looking brunette and a red head that was somewhere between the other two. She got up and brushed herself off and extended her hand "I assume that this is Buffy, Faith and Willow."

Her hand hung there for a moment before the red-head took it and gave it a good shake. "I'm Willow, this is Buffy," she said indicating the blond, "and Faith," she nodded at the brunette. "You really use a wand?"

Fleur gave a little laugh at the young woman's enthusiasm. "Yes, I use a wand," she said while pulling it out of her hair where she had been using it like a chopstick to keep her white blond hair up and manageable. She gave a little swish and flick and muttered, "wingardium leviosa," while pointing the wand at Dawn. For her part Dawn gave a little shriek as she rose off the ground. Fleur held her there for only a moment or two, then lowered her and canceled the spell. "I could also cast a sun blocking spell if you wish, you feel the warmth but the sun will not burn you."

"That would be great," Willow bubbled; Faith said, "Sure," and Buffy just nodded. Again, Fleur gave a little wave and said, "soleil negaten," then wound her hair up again and returned her wand to its job of holding things in place.

Willow and Faith had moved to join Dawn but the other newcomer, Buffy, just continued to stare at her. Fleur returned her gaze, trying to determine just what she wanted. "Do you love him," Buffy finally asked.

"Don't you all," Fleur asked in reply. She could see that her answer had thrown the woman; emotions ran like water over her face flitting between one and another with the speed of thought. After a second or two she shook her head as if to clear it. "Are you in love with him?"

"If I am, then I believe the first person I should tell would be Alexander himself; don't you think so." She continued to placidly hold the blonds gaze until finally Faith spoke up.

"You got stones there Frenchy, I'll give you that. Stop glaring at her B, the X-man is old enough to make his own screw ups."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Buffy replied.

"What are you worried about," Fleur asked her.

"I'm worried that some of you friends might just decide that he's too big a threat and deal . . . . . proactively with the situation."

"You are afraid that other Wizards may try and hurt Alexander?"

Buffy replied with a curt nod.

"So am I," Fleur confessed, sinking back onto her towel. "In general, the Wizarding world is very traditional, they resist change. Alexander almost personifies change, and I am constantly afraid for him. I have told him this but he says that he is taking precautions and moreover, that it is his life to risk. I cannot argue with that even though I would like to."

Silence reigned around the five women; all the others could recall similar arguments/conversations with Xander all with similar conclusions. It was this, more than anything else that convinced the others that Fleur was a keeper.

Faith broke the mood quite spectacularly when she asked, "so what do ya do for fun when you're not bustin crims there Frenchy?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fleur spent an hour or so talking to Alexander's friends and incidentally collecting several good pieces of blackmail and a couple of interesting stories, then she went to find Gabrielle. She found the girl paying in the islands gentle surf with a group of slayers. Fleur just stood there and watched her sister, she'd rarely seen the girl in such good spirits.

At that moment, a pair of strong arms draped themselves over her shoulders and gently pulled her back into the comforting mass behind her. "She seems to be having fun," a voice murmured in her ear.

"Yes she does," Fleur replied. "I believe that she is enjoying the experience of not being judged on the basis of what she is."

"Possibly, or she's whammied all the baby slayers so they're in love with her, or at least in lust with her."

"She does not need magic for that."

"True, she is very pretty, but honestly I don't think she could hold a candle to you."

"Why not," Fleur asked, turning in Alexander's arms.

"Because while you are both beautiful on the outside, Gabrielle had youth but no character yet. She hasn't been through the trials that turn a person into an adult the way you have. And I believe that I've mentioned before how much I admire you for what you've been through, and how you've dealt with adversity. I've seen a lot of pretty women, Fleur; there have been pretty girls around me all of my life; but you are, by far, the loveliest person I've ever seen."

That answer got him a very enthusiastic kiss. "So where were you, I missed you being here."

"An emergency cropped up in Portugal. Honestly I wonder if it was manufactured so the high inquisitors couldn't get some alone time with you."

"I wouldn't put it past them," she laughed, knowing whom Alexander was talking about. "And even if they did, it all went well."

"Good to hear," Alexander muttered, kissing her again.

When they both came up for air, Fleur had the devil's own smile on her face. "So, I understand that you've met the real Dracula," she asked.

Alexander just hung his head, he was so gonna kill his friends.


	7. Treachery and Treason

A/N: First of all, thanks to everyone that's read and reviewed my story, I appreciate the feedback. As always, I have no proprietary claim to either BTVS or the works of JK Rowling. Enjoy.

**TREACHERY AND TREASON**

Xander groaned as he sat down, it felt like his whole body had been worked over by a Visigoth mechanic. He'd been stupid, and what's more, he knew he was being stupid and done it anyway. 'You'd think after all these years I would have learned not to try and keep up with a slayer,' he thought. But no, he had to go and fire up Buffy's competitive urges, not that they were ever buried very far. They'd been playing a little beach volleyball, he and Fleur against Buffy and Dawn. Now Xander had never been much for sports but he was a native Californian, so beach volleyball was something he was fairly good at, and being the tallest person there didn't hurt. Xander had noticed that a lot of Dawn's serves were just barely over the net, so he set himself up to take advantage of that. Just as Dawn served, Buffy took the opportunity to look at the soles of her feet, having heard Fleur talk about the natural pedicure she was getting from walking on the sand. As the ball came over the net, Xander leapt to his full height and smashed the ball back. Much to his chagrin, and amusement, the ball hit Buffy right in the side of the head. It was then that Xander made his fatal mistake. Instead of apologizing, he laughed. And not just a little snicker, but a loud, drawn out belly laugh. A laugh that was accompanied by several snarky comments about slayer vigilance; he was still stinging from having his friends spill the beans on Dracula and a few other things to Fleur, so perhaps his reaction was understandable. Xander started to realize the depth of his mistake when Buffy made no response other than a glare. After that, Xander would have sworn on a stack of bibles that there wasn't one Buffy out there, but twenty. She was everywhere, and every ball she hit came at Xander at roughly the speed of sound. Even when he tried to lob the ball deep, Buffy would jump high enough to get it and send a blistering return at Xander's head. Needless to say, he ended up rather battered. So now he was paying the price, although he had to admit that the look on Buffy's face when the ball popped her in the head was almost worth it.

Actually, despite that incident, or maybe because of it; the day had gone better than he had hoped. There had been no tension between Fleur and some of the Watcher's that had come from Wizarding families. Instead they had swapped stories about common acquaintances and shared incidents. For her part, Fleur had been utterly charming; to the point that Buffy, Willow, Faith and Dawn had all approached him separately during the day and given their approval of the young woman. Xander had no idea what had been said, but he was grateful that things had worked out so well.

Xander finally got comfortable, then sighed as he saw the true state of his desk. The one thing he really didn't like about his job was the paperwork. He'd suggested to Giles that they should take a, "no news is good news," approach to it all. Giles' response to his suggestion had given Xander a new appreciation for both the versatility and descriptive power of the English language. So now he was stuck with it; fortunately, on the top, was a report from Andrew. Xander had to smile at that, the king geek had turned into a blazingly competent researcher. Quickly Xander opened the folder and started reading. Fifteen minutes he put it in his out box, one thought foremost in his mind. 'Now that is certainly interesting.' He picked up the phone and made a call.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fleur was having a lazy day. She didn't have to go into the ministry today, so he had slept in and was now cleaning her flat; it was slow going. Not because she and Gabrielle were particularly messy, but because she kept getting distracted by thoughts of the day before. It had been quite an experience, meeting Alexander's friends and co-workers; it had also been troubling in a small way.

Fleur had been pleasantly surprised to find that she liked all of the "high inquisitors", those women that were closest to Alexander. She liked Willow for her bubbly personality, Faith for her irreverence, Dawn for her tact and empathy, and Buffy . . . . . . the depth of caring that Buffy displayed had shocked the young woman. The blond had exhibited such a fierce protective streak that it left Fleur almost breathless at times and that is what troubled her. If she somehow hurt Alexander emotionally, then all that fierceness would be turned on her and she didn't know if she'd survive it.

She paused and shook her head at her own foolishness, why borrow trouble when there was plenty waiting at her door. If something happened, it would happen; that was for the future, better to keep your mind in the present. To take her mind off of that, she instead remembered the look on Alexander's face when she mentioned Dracula. That had led to a memorable scene at dinner.

They had been standing on the porch of a large building, one that housed the dining area, and talking about life in general when a shriek pierced the air. Almost as one, they turned and dashed into the dining area, only to find Willow on the ground and crab walking away from the table. The reason was immediately obvious to those who knew the red head because on her plate was a small green object staring at her. They watched Willow shudder as it opened its mouth and let out a quiet "ribbit". There was silence for a second, then the room exploded in laughter and Willow blushed seven shades of red at her own reaction. She was still sitting on the ground when Alexander helped her up.

"Who put that thing there," she asked indignantly.

"So, you told Fleur the story of me and Dracula, huh Will?"

She darted a gaze to her best friend and saw the truth there, she looked chagrined, but only a little.

"Pay backs a bitch there friend o' mine, and you better watch yourself cause Freddy there is pretty small, you never know where he might end up."

Willow looked both defiant and scared, she tried to match him glare for glare but finally folded, "sorry Xander."

"No problem Will, just make sure that I'm around for the next round of stories, OK."

"Sure," she replied, but then got a little mad, "why pick on me, I wasn't the only storyteller?"

"True, but the day's not over yet, is it?"

Fleur had followed the conversation, and understood what was happening, the rest of the night would not be dull, she realized. And sure enough, during the course of dinner Alexander had shared some wildly embarrassing stories about Buffy's driving and Dawn's cooking that had the young women very apologetic. Then he had turned to Faith.

"Nice try there stud, but you ain't got nothin on me that everyone don't already know."

Fleur watched as Alexander's smile got wider and even more diabolic, if this was a bluff, Fleur thought, it was a masterful one. She looked over and could see that Faith was getting nervous, even sweating a little but the brunette was defiant.

"OK smartass, what you got?"

Alexander leaned forward and said just two words, "Care Bears."

Faith instantly turned a deathly pale, whatever Alexander had said, had struck a nerve.

"What about em," Faith asked, but without her customary bravado.

"I know Faith," he replied. "I know about the tat, I know about the tapes," here he grinned, "I even know about the collection."

There was silence at the table; Faith looked like she'd rather be facing fifty Uber-Vamps at the moment. "How," she finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I caught site of the tat when you were in the hospital. As for the other stuff, I went over to your old place to see if there was anything I could use to make the basement a little more livable. That's when."

Faith put her head down, she'd been busted. The thump of her forehead on the table set off a chorus of laughter that Faith soon found herself participating in. Later, she rallied and dropped dime on the time Dawn had tried one of her cigarettes and when Buffy had managed to shoot herself in the ass with a crossbow.

It had felt good, to be a part of a group like that, a group that wasn't afraid to expose their weaknesses and secrets to one another. With a sigh, Fleur came back to the here and now. She went back to washing up the breakfast dishes and was contemplating what to do until she and Gabrielle went out to lunch in non-Wizarding London when she noticed the owl on her windowsill. Her initial irritation was quickly forgotten when she realized that it wasn't a ministry owl. Her curiosity piqued, she opened the window and removed the message. The owl instantly took off, surprising Fleur. Usually they waited for a response. Her curiosity was now really piqued; she unrolled the parchment and read it. She had to read it twice just to be clear about what it said. After she was sure, the only thought in her head was, 'now that is certainly interesting.' She sat down with quill and parchment and started writing. D'Artagnan, her little screech owl, was going to be a busy boy today.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fleur went to the ministry the next day; she had once again been called before the security committee of the Wizengamot to talk about what she had learned over the weekend. The whole process was progressing rather smoothly with Fleur explaining what she had seen of the relationship between the Slayers and Watchers along with bits and pieces concerning demons, magic and prophecies. Then someone asked the wrong question. "Who was there that came from our world," Sarah Goldstein asked.

"I will not tell you that," Fleur replied.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said that I will not tell you that," Fleur repeated.

"Why not," Amelia Bones asked.

"Because you want that information for the wrong reasons. If you wanted to speak to them, and perhaps use them to create a group that would mediate between our worlds, then I would not hesitate. But too many of you sitting here are only interested in revenge. You see them as a threat to be eliminated, and your only purpose for seeing them is to either kill them or obliviate their memories. Many here still fail to admit that this is a situation of our own making, and are attempting to put the blame somewhere other than where it belongs; and that is with us, not them. We threw them out of our world so they went and found somewhere that their skills would be appreciated and used." Fleur surveyed the committee with cold anger, "you all simply want to punish someone else for our mistakes. That is why I will not tell you."

"They broke the Statute of Secrecy," Angus McMillan roared.

"We threw them out," Fleur shouted back, "they were no longer subject to our laws." Fleur's outburst had, for once, silenced the committee. Out of that silence, her voice could be heard, low and menacing. "You would be better served by determining how to make this group an ally, so the threat they pose would be neutralized as opposed to seeking someone to punish for something that isn't their fault." And with that, she turned and stalked out of the chamber.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fleur spoke to Alexander every day, using a public phone near her flat, but their schedules kept them apart until Saturday. They'd met and had a quick lunch at pizza place (pizza was rapidly becoming one of Fleur's favorite things) then gone to Portobello Road. They were talking, but Fleur was having trouble keeping up with their conversation. She was constantly being distracted by the variety and novelty of what was for sale on the carts. She'd just finished looking at something called a 'Lunch Box', turned to Alexander and said, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said maybe we should work on hooking that Harry Potter kid you mentioned up with Dawn." He laughed at Fleur's scandalized look, she did not want to think about what Ginny Weasly would say about that suggestion, "well what can I say, you missed the whole bit about having a post match orgy with the Harpies."

Fleur blushed to the roots of her hair, and then had to tolerate Alexander's laughter at her reaction. But that was alright, she'd just make sure that their next date involved him wearing formal robes. "I apologize Alexander, but I've never seen anything like this."

"Really, I'd hate to think that us regular folks have the market cornered on street vendors."

"You don't, it's just that I've never seen such a variety of things, and some of them I don't recognize. I've tried to work out what they do just from looking at them, but honestly, a few of them just baffle me." She held up an item, "I can understand handcuffs, but why make them out of leather and not metal? And why line the inside with fur, as though you were worried about the prisoner's comfort?"

Alexander blushed, pulled the fetish cuffs from her hand and put them back where she'd picked them up. Then he took her elbow and walked slowly away from the bemused vendor, whispering in her ear the whole time. Soon, Fleur was blushing as well.

They'd found quite a bit to spend Alexander's money on, then headed off to a quite restaurant for dinner. After a leisurely walk through the park they headed back to Fleur's flat.

"You're sure Gabby won't be there this time?"

"She's at our parent's house on the Cote d'Azure; she'll be there at least a month."

"Excellent," Alexander said, doing an eerily exact imitation of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons.

Fleur giggled lightly, then started handing him all of her packages, so her hands would be free to open the door. "That's why you wanted me along, you just need a beast of burden, admit it," Alexander groused. Fleur's giggle turned into a full blown laugh. She opened the door and turned to him to take some of the packages off his hands when a shaft of red light lanced out of her apartment and struck Fleur in the back. Her eyes opened wide in surprise before she dropped to the ground, unconscious. Alexander didn't hesitate; he flung the collected packages into the room. Several of them intercepted various hexes and jinxes that were being flung his way. One spell managed to get through and Alexander found himself slowed a bit and his ribs hurt on his left side but he kept going. As he charged into the apartment, he saw several figures in dark robes, he suspected that there were only the four that Fleur had warned him about but now he had to concentrate on the problem at hand. In a nutshell, that was getting out of this alive. He heard some muttering off to his left and he snapped a kick in that direction, a feral smile coming to his face as he felt someone fold up over his leg. He caught one person flush on the left cheek with a right cross, and nailed another person with the backhand from the punch. He paused, trying to locate his final opponent; then heard someone off to the right. He dropped and did a leg sweep as a spell passed right where his body had been. The person was taken off their feet and Xander was straddling their body before they were even aware of what was going on. A quick punch and it was over. He stood, wondering if this was the best that the Wizarding world had to offer. He was starting back to where Fleur was when a bolt of red energy hit him. Xander went to his knees but he was trying to pull a knife when another bolt hit him; followed by a third. His eye closed, still looking at Fleur.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As Fleur came too, she found that she was half laying on someone. As her brain started functioning again, she realized who it was that she was laying on and what must have happened. She lay there and checked herself for injury. After a minute or two Fleur realized that everything seemed to be functioning normally, she just felt like she'd been hit by one of Alexander's tazer things again. Thinking of Alexander reminded her of where she was. Ignoring the pain, she turned over and started examining him. He seemed alright, there didn't seem to be any physical damage, which suggested that he'd been taken down with magic. Fleur knew that there wasn't much that she could do for him, at least when she didn't have her wand, so she made him as comfortable as possible given the conditions and tried to work out where they were. One other thing she did was check to see if any of the magical items that she'd had on herself were still there. Unfortunately whoever had taken them had been thorough, then she smiled as her hand came in contact with a hairpin, but not thorough enough. It was her last resort; she had turned one of her hair pins into a portkey, just a very weak one. Since most of what made it work were a series of tiny runes that she'd etched onto the pin, the magic signature was almost negligible. She sent up a silent prayer and activated it; she hoped that Gabrielle would find the pin quickly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alexander was first aware that his head was resting on something soft, but the rest of him wasn't. As he lay there, his nose told him that Fleur and only Fleur was with him. His mind began piecing together what had happened, he didn't like the conclusions he was reaching. He opened his eye and there was Fleur looking down at him, his head was in her lap. Worry was clear in her ice blue eyes but to Alexander she looked more beautiful then ever. "Hey there good lookin."

Fleur's face lit up in a smile as she saw that Alexander was awake. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've been tazered," he replied. "Any idea where we are?"

"No, there are no clues in this room and I can't hear or smell anything. Maybe with your senses . . .," she trailed off.

Alexander closed his eye and concentrated, they were underground, but that was the only thing he could be certain about. "We're underground, that's all I know."

Fleur sagged a bit, "I was hoping that whoever did this had forgotten something."

"Sorry, they've been thorough this time." He paused, "there is something that's bothering me."

"What is it?"

"There was an extra person."

"What?"

"In your apartment, you had said that there were four people on the committee that were giving you static, but when they came to take us, there were five."

"So who was number five?"

"I don't know; any ideas?"

Fleur thought for a moment, "best case is that it's just some hireling."

"How likely is that?"

"Not very, if I were going to guess, I would say that there is someone behind the scenes that we don't know about yet. And that's a fairly scary concept."

"It is, but until we know who, it's also a moot concept." Alexander looked around, "you know, this place is better than about half the places I stayed in when I was in Africa." He looked at Fleur, only to see that the young woman looked miserable. "What's the matter," he asked.

She looked away from him for a moment, then turned her anguished eyes to his; "I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"This is entirely my fault. You are in this because some of the narrow minded fools I work for thought you and your organization is a threat. If I had just lied to them and said what they wanted to hear, then we would both be fine. But because I had to be honest, even knowing it would cause trouble, I've put you in danger, or even more danger than you're usually in."

"What this," Alexander replied. "This is no big deal. Actually," he added after a moments thought, "it's kind of novel. Usually it's the women I date that want to kill me, not their employers." He looked around again, "I mean, sure, it's not the ideal place for our first night alone together, but like I said, it's not so bad. So look at it from my perspective, I'm here alone with the most beautiful woman I've ever known and she's holding me in her arms. So what if the atmosphere isn't the greatest." He looked up at her; it was funny watching the emotions rush across her face. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or just joking around to lighten things up and so she wasn't really sure how to react. Alexander raised his head just a bit and kissed her confusion away. It was a warm, passionate kiss that promised a lot more; and it also served to clear her mind. "Have we done everything we could to get out of here," he asked her; once the kiss broke apart.

"Yes," she replied.

"Then lets enjoy the time we've got, I mean this will probably be one of the few times that we don't have someone clamoring for our attention."

Fleur laughed, both at his words and at the expression on his face. She took a moment to consider but then decided that he was right. You never really knew how long you had so why not enjoy the time given to you. Her mind clear, she leaned down and renewed the kiss, deepening it and putting all the love she had for the one eyed man into it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Neither knew how long they were there kissing. And for whatever reason, kissing is all they did. Somehow doing anything more didn't seem right. But unfortunately, real life had to intrude and despite their best efforts to forget the fact, they were indeed prisoners. They were lying on the floor of the cell when their captors came for them. It was quick and efficient. The opened the door, two body binds were cast and two bodies were levitated out, no words were spoken beyond those necessary for the spells. Fortunately the body binds included both Alexander's and Fleur's mouth; otherwise those holding them captive might have had their ancestry dragged through the metaphorical mud before the arrived at a large hall. It was clear that they were in someone's residence; there were just too many personal touches for it to be somewhere like a warehouse. Alexander and Fleur were loosened one at a time, sat down in chairs and had their limbs rebound. After they were secure, the four took off the masks they had been wearing. As expected, it was Sarah Goldstein, Eloise Greengrass, Angus McMillan and Walter Abbot.

"Well this really isn't a surprise," Alexander muttered.

"What did you say, Boy?"

"I said that this wasn't a surprise, I mean really, you sad sacks have to be the worst conspirators in the history of conspiracy. As soon as everyone figures out that Fleur is missing, they'll figure that it was the four of you since you were the ones giving her so much trouble."

"From your point of view, that may be true," Walter Abbot replied. "But when they find her dead body," here he gestured at Fleur, "it won't be difficult to tie that to her ongoing relationship with a muggle who works with violently dangerous magical creatures. Your trial will be a sensation, a carefully orchestrated sensation of course; where you'll reveal all of those who are traitors to the Wizarding world. The public will clamor for protection from these outside forces and will allow us to do what is necessary to protect ourselves. It is needless to say, but the loss of prestige on the part of the Minister will require her to step down and then; well, we'll see what happens then."

"Great, one question and the bozo starts monologuing," Alexander said, then thought for a moment. "Well the most obvious flaw that I can see is that you think you can get me to tell you what you want to know. That ain't gonna happen."

The response he got was a muttered "Crucio," then Alexander's world was just pain. Everything he'd been through before paled in comparison to what he'd just been hit with. It felt like his nerves were on fire and that every bone in his body was simultaneously being broken. But then, in that maelstrom of agony; memories of a life other than his surfaced, surfaced and taught him how to ride out the agony that he would hurt but not break. It seemed as though there was still a bit of soldier boy around after all. As the pain stopped, Alexander took a shuddering breath and opened his eye. There was a half crazed gleam to his eye and a feral smile on his lips, "you're gonna have to do better than that."

"I assure you Mr. Harris, we can, I have no doubt that as the head of your organization you would prepare yourself for something like this" Eloise Greengrass answered him. "But I am also quite sure that you've never experienced anything like the Cruciatus curse before. Any further answer was cut off by Alexander laughing.

"You guys think I'm in charge?"

"You are not," Fleur asked.

"Of field operations and training, yeah, but not the whole Council. What a bunch of maroons."

"Never the less, you have knowledge that we require," and then the Cruciatus Curse was used yet again.

Fleur watched it all, tears running down her face at the agony that Alexander was going through. She watched as he taunted them, egging them on with insults and gibes. At first she had no idea why he'd do such a thing, but then it hit her; he was doing it for her. Because once these four dunces figured out that he wouldn't break, they would use her against him; inflicting pain on her to break him. But by keeping their focus on him, he was sparing her that pain. Fleur didn't know if she wanted to kiss him for being so noble, or hexing him into the middle of next month for having to watch what they did to him.

The screaming stopped for a moment, but then his voice picked up again. It was hoarse from screaming but it was clear enough. "What about you Sarah? Everyone else had had a hand in it and we see what that's gotten you. Are you too good to get your hands dirty? After all, I'm just a muggle, Fleur over there is just a hybrid, heck I bet somewhere in your family is someone who was just a Jew to the Nazi's."

That was all it took, Sarah Goldstein officially went nuts. Her eyes widened and a snarl appeared on her face. She flourished her wand and screamed out "Crucio." The spell that hit Alexander left the others way in the dust, he had infuriated her beyond reason and that rage powered her spell. Fortunately it only lasted a second or two before a jet of red energy spattered against her side and Sarah Goldstein collapsed in a heap. Everyone froze, not really processing what they'd just seen. The hesitation cost them as more spells came volleying out of the darkness and put the other three down in a matter of seconds.

Fleur looked and at first saw nothing but then the form of Kingsley Shacklebolt resolved itself out of the shadows. Relief surged through the young woman, but also a little apprehension. Kingsley's face was set in an emotion that Fleur didn't recognize and that look was what was making her very uncomfortable at the moment. "Thank goodness its you Kingsley," Fleur said, "get me out of this thing, Alexander needs help."

"He can't do that," Alexander chimed in.

"What do you mean," Fleur turned and asked him, wondering if that last blast had unhinged him in some way.

"I mean that he's not here to let us go, he can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not in his plan. Look at his face Fleur, remember when I was about to hit you with that tazer?"

Fleur looked again at her boss and realized that Alexander was right. The look on Kingsley's face was one of pain, but also one of resolve. He wouldn't like what he was about to do, but he would do it. "But why," she asked.

Here the large man paused; Fleur could see different answers flickering through his head and being discarded. Finally he answered, "it is necessary for things to progress."

"I don't understand," Fleur shot back, "what things have to progress and what is necessary?"

"He means," Alexander interrupted again, "that change was coming too slowly for Kingsley, so he decided to speed up the timetable. Am I right?"

"So far, I knew that these four would do something stupid. When they did, I would arrest them and other, younger, less tradition minded Wizards would take their place."

"That's why you waited until all of them had performed an unforgivable isn't it. The word of the Chief Auror would be enough to send them away for a long time and certainly enough to strip them of their positions."

"But why then can't you let us go," Fleur demanded.

"Because it isn't enough," Kingsley rumbled. "We would clean these four out, but then there would be eight behind them working in the shadows. So what was needed was a martyr. Someone who would be a rallying point, someone who's death would inspire the depth of feeling necessary to pull those who dwell there out of the shadows. The horrible death of a dedicated Auror who died for a world that mostly sneered at her mixed heritage should do nicely."

Fleur looked over at Alexander and realized something; the man was scared. She could see fear on his face, something that hadn't been there before Kingsley had shown up. "So Fleur is the martyr, then what about me?"

"Ah, Mr. Harris," the big man said. "You are a godsend. When your body is discovered with Ms. Delacour's then your organization will quite willingly work with us to weed out any remaining . . . . . malcontents."

"So Fleur's gonna be the rallying point and the slayers are the secret police, that's how all of this is gonna work?"

"Indeed, but first, I have to kill you both."

Kingsley bent down and picked up Sarah Goldstein's wand. That way if someone tried 'priori incantatum' on Kingsley's wand, it would come up clean. He was just standing up when he became aware of a noise. It was odd, sounding vaguely like a horn but different somehow. Kingsley went over to the source, which seemed to be Alexander's belongings. There was a small rectangular object that was the source, but Kingsley had no idea what it meant. He turned to Alexander, and absently noticed the smile on the young man's face, "what is this?"

"Didn't you ever watch western's when you were a kid," he asked. Kingsley just shook his head so Alexander continued, his smile getting wider, "they always blow the bugle just before the Cavalry arrive."

And with that, the room was suddenly swarming with people.


	8. I Still Can't Get Used To It

A/N Sorry this one took a while. Thanks as always to those who have taken the time to read and review, I appreciate the effort. It goes without saying that I have no proprietary claims on either BTVS or the works of JK Rowling.

**I STILL CAN'T GET USED TO IT**

Gabrielle Delacour was scared and beyond that, she had no idea what to do about it. Once again she looked at the object that was causing all of these cascading emotions in her. It was just a hair pin; frail, insignificant in the great scheme of things. But what it represented was something else all together; Fleur was calling for help. For Gabrielle it felt as though gravity had suddenly stopped working. For all of Gabriele's life, Fleur had been a rock, she was steady, confident, and capable and always there; she was Gabrielle's hero. And now that hero was asking her for help and Gabrielle had no idea what to do.

When the pin had first arrived, landing on Gabrielle's face; her first instinct had been to call her parents. Sadly, she had no idea where they were. For as long as Gabrielle could remember, her parents had been much more involved in their own lives instead of the lives of their children. The sad truth was that Fleur had been more of a mother to her than her own mother had ever been. So if her parents weren't a possibility, then who did that leave?

Well there was Alexander. He cared for Fleur, Gabrielle had no doubt about that; and the man was certainly capable of finding and rescuing Fleur if the stories her sister had told her were true. But then Gabrielle realized that if Fleur was in trouble then it was likely that Alexander was in trouble right beside her.

Suddenly Gabrielle straightened, that was it. She might not get Alexander, but she could get in contact with a lot of very competent people who were very protective of the one eyed man. Now that she had a plan, Gabrielle moved decisively. She went over to the table and picked up the telephone that was there. Glad that she had actually paid attention in muggle studies class, she studied the numbers on a piece of paper in her hand and then started dialing.

"Hello."

"Nicole, is that you?"

"Gabrielle, hey, how are you?"

"Not well, my sister is in trouble."

This got Nicole's attention immediately. "And since she's dating Xander, he might be in trouble as well."

"That's what I'm afraid of; if he's not there I mean,"

"Honestly I don't think he's here, but hang on a minute while I get Dawn."

Gabrielle waited for what seemed like hours, but was probably less than two minutes, before a new voice was on the line. "Gabrielle, are you there?"

"Yes, is this Dawn?"

"Yeah, so tell me what you know."

Gabrielle went into the appearance of the hair pin and what it meant as well as the absence of her parents. "Do you think you can find them and help," she asked desperately.

"Probably, but if it's folks from the Wizarding world that have them, then we could use some help."

"I'll help," the girl immediately answered. "I'm not as good as Fleur, but I'm not bad."

"Thanks," Dawn replied. "If you can think of anyone else that could give us a hand, bring them to the front steps of St. Paul's in London in one hour. Can you do that?"

"I'll be there," the girl answered decisively, "and I'll see what I can do about finding more people to help."

"Excellent," Dawn said, then she went on. "Listen Gabrielle, I know you're kinda freaking out right now, but seriously, don't worry. Your sis is tough, and she's good at what she does and Xander's no slouch either. They'll make sure that we've got every chance to get em back, count on it."

Relief and gratitude rushed through Gabrielle right then, she was so overcome that she could barely answer. "Thank you Dawn," she said, but her tone said much more.

"Hey, I remember what it was like when Buffy was always in trouble, so I figured that you needed to hear what my mom always told me." Then her tone changed back to something very business like, "so we'll see you in an hour?"

"One hour," Gabrielle replied and hung up the phone. As Gabrielle stood there, she tried to come up with someone that would help, someone that she could trust. She knew that she couldn't got to the ministry, they might be the very people that had taken Fleur in the first place. She could think of no family friends that might aid them and the ones that she did consider weren't available as well. The young woman was beginning to feel like it was a hopeless cause when a gleam came to her eye. She thought of some people that Fleur knew who just might help. Quickly grabbing some Floo powder, she approached the fireplace.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hopeless, now there's a word that described Harry Potter, at least in his mind. Since Voldemort's defeat, Harry had been down. Not that he was a constant wet blanket, but he could drop into a depression at the drop of a hat. What was bothering him was the fame, he didn't like it, but at the same time he was letting it define him. In his mind he was no longer Harry Potter, he was 'THE FAMOUS HARRY POTTER' complete with a fanfare. Any time he went out, there were people who were anxious to see him, who wanted to thank him or who just wanted a moment with their hero. He wasn't taking it well. If he'd invested more in hair gel, then he'd be Angel (not that he knew who Angel was) with glasses; for all the brooding he did. He was currently sitting in a rather squishy armchair and staring morosely into the fire at #12 Grimauld Place, and brooding about how his friends just didn't understand.

He'd decided that the only way he'd get some peace was to move to Montana over in America. All that was there were sheep ranches and mountains and you could have fifty miles between neighbors. To Harry, that sounded perfect, naturally all his friends were appalled. The 'discussion' had finally ended when Ginny had told him to get over himself and start living again. She was currently in her room talking to Hermione while Ron was looking for something to eat in the kitchen and Neville was conducting another of his chancy crossbreedings in the little greenhouse on the roof. Harry sighed and shifted in his chair, when suddenly he was showered with ashes and a young blond was standing in front of him.

"Gabrielle," he asked, sheathing his wand.

"Hello Harry," Gabrielle answered. "I'm sorry to cause such a mess but I need some help."

This peaked Harry's interest and so brooding was set aside for the time being. "What's the matter?"

"Fleur is in trouble," the young woman answered. "I cannot go to the ministry because they might be the ones behind it and our parents aren't available. I was hoping you and your friends could help me."

"Hang on and I'll call them," Harry told her. He looked around and sure enough, there was Kreacher. "Could you tell everyone to come to the Library, Kreacher?"

"Certainly Master," Kreacher husked out then disappeared in the middle of a bow.

Harry turned back to Gabrielle, "is there anything I can get you?"

"No, thank you," she replied. They just stood there in awkward silence until the other four had arrived. Everyone looked a bit startled to see Gabrielle there but they kept quiet and the young woman began to talk. She told them of what she knew about Fleur and what had been happening in her life; about Alexander and the trouble with the ministry.

"So you think that some of these ministry wankers are going to knock her off because she doesn't agree with them," Ron asked.

"Language," Hermione hissed, smacking him in the back of the head.

"Yes, I do," Gabrielle replied, ignoring their byplay.

"Do you have any idea about how many there are," Harry asked.

"Not really, Fleur only talked about four that were giving her trouble but that doesn't mean that there aren't more."

"True," Harry replied, feeling more alive than he had in months. "So is it just us going after them?"

"No," Gabrielle replied. "Alexander's friends will also be helping. We're supposed to meet them in front of St. Paul's in about 30 minutes."

Harry looked back at his friends, "so, are we going to help?"

"Sure Harry," Ron replied for all of them, "you lead and we'll follow."

Harry smiled at them, and the realization that his friends would always be there for him broke through the cloud of gloom that had been hanging over his soul. "Alright then, let's get what we need and go meet Fleur's friends."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Five 'cracks' sounded in the silence on the front steps of St Paul's cathedral revealing six people; Gabrielle had been forced to side along apparate with Hermione. "Alright then," Ron spoke up, "we're here, where are they?"

"All around you," a voice replied from the darkness. "You all really have to work on being stealthy," a blond woman said as she walked into the light. "You OK there Gabby," she asked, looking at the teenager.

"I will be when we get Fleur back," Gabrielle answered.

"Gabrielle, are these the people that we're helping," Harry asked as he watched about nine younger women and two older ones emerge from the shadows.

"Yes," she replied, "these are Alexander's friends and co-workers." She started to introduce them but Dawn cut her off.

"We can play who's who later," Dawn said. "Right now time is crucial," then she turned to Harry, "can you get us close with that apparation Gabrielle mentioned."

"Everyone here," Harry asked.

"Yeah."

"Probably, but why don't you want us to just apparate to where they are?"

"Because it's too noisy, not to mention the whole momentary disorientation; it would give the bad guys too many advantages."

"So what do we do then," Hermione asked.

"We get within visual range, then we do a teleportation circle, it's much less disorienting, not to mention quieter, Willow replied."

"What the . . . . . did you say 'teleportation circle'," Hermione asked incredulously. I've never heard of anything like that."

"It's Wiccan."

"Wiccan, you mean you lot are some kind of religious nuts that run naked in the fields and that kind of thing?"

"No, I mean Wiccan, as in Earth magic."

"Earth Magic," Hermione practically yelled, "there's no such thing." Hermione would probably have gone on except, suddenly, there was a very angry blond in her face.

"Now, we could go on for hours about things that exist that you don't know about, or we could do what we're here to do and rescue two people before they're killed. Now if you want to help, then shut up and help. Otherwise you can go home now."

It took every bit of control that Hermione possessed to keep herself from cowering in submission. She had never experienced someone who had a presence like the blond in front of her; even Snape at his most intimidating didn't come close. The blond stood there for another second but seemed to be satisfied with what she saw in Hermione's eyes. Finally she turned away and addressed everyone. "Alright, once we get to the jumping off point we're gonna team up, two of us with every one of you wand wavers. We'll worry about taking whoever took Fleur and Xander, but we need you guys to protect us and counter whatever spells these schmucks throw at us." She turned to Gabrielle and friends, "can you all handle that?"

"Sure," Harry replied, "do you want us to take them out if we see an opening?"

"If you can do it without risking the mission, then yeah. Remember," the blond said, turning to everyone again, "our first priority is to rescue the two of them. Taking down the bad guys is secondary to that. Everyone clear?"

Everyone was, and so after a bit of crowding up, five cracks rang out in the night and the stairs of St. Paul's was once again empty.

Hermione watched closely as a red head and a brunette drew a rather complicated symbol on the ground with chalk. She was fascinated despite her skepticism; some of the markings on the edge looked very similar to some of the runes that she knew about. She was about to take a step forward for a closer look when the red head said "don't move," without looking up. Hermione looked down and saw that she was close to smudging the outline and hastily scooted back. It was actually very pretty, and what's more, Hermione could feel the build up of something. It felt like magic, but at the same time, it didn't. "It's similar, but not the same," a voice muttered in her ear. She whipped around to see Gabrielle standing there.

"You've done this before?"

"Yes, Fleur and I traveled from Scotland to a tropical island in an instant. It was quite intriguing, I wanted to ask how it was accomplished, but I felt it would be rude to do so."

She was about to ask the French girl more about the people they were with when she was distracted by a loud exclamation of, "bloody hell, what is that thing."

That "thing," looked to be a gun, actually several guns; but they didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before.

"Tazer rifle," one of the girls answered. "It shoots electricity and stuns your opponent. His voluntary muscles won't work for about ten minutes. You get less time with demons, but it still works on em."

"Demons," Ron exclaimed, "what kind of demons?"

"The usual," the girl continued, seemingly oblivious to Ron's distress; "Vampires, Fyarls, Omooodiwo, T'Kreth, that kind of thing."

"I've never heard of any of those, well except Vampires."

"And despite that, they still exist," the girl replied. Then she took Ron by the arm, "come one, Willow's almost done."

Ron followed the girl, all the while wondering what they'd got themselves into.

Gabrielle just watched as Buffy put the groups together. She would be working with Nicole and Vi, a red headed girl that she didn't know too well. Buffy and Dawn were with Harry, Willow and Kennedy were with Hermione, Neville was having to deal with Faith and Rona, and she wasn't really sure who was with Ron or Ginny.

"OK, go in thirty seconds," Buffy said. Then Gabrielle noticed that Dawn was doing something with her phone. "Is this really the time Dawn," Buffy asked.

"I'm just letting Xander know we're coming," the brunette replied.

Then time was up and everyone went through the circle. They didn't expect what confronted them.

It should have been over in seconds, after all it was just one guy against six Witches and Wizards, a Wiccan of astounding power, ten Slayers and the mystical Key to the Universe (who could fight dirty with the best of them). But the one guy just happened to be a Wizard as well. A Wizard who was able to fight with a wand in each hand and had honed his skills with years of practical use, and these skills were earning him a stalemate, for now.

Gabrielle was surprised; she had believed that anyone would have been overwhelmed quickly and easily, but then again, this was her first taste of what real Wizarding combat was like. She was doing her job and protecting Nicole and Vi, when she noticed that Kingsley had changed the types of spell he was using. At first he had been relying heavily on stunners, but now he was using spells designed to injure or incapacitate. It then struck her with brutal clarity, how this fight would go. It was scary in a way, how the way the entire fight was now in her head, fully formed. She could see how both sides would start using more dangerous spells and tactics with the obvious conclusion that someone would be killed; most likely a slayer. Once that occurred, any chance that Kingsley had of living past this evening were gone and the only question that would remain is how many he would kill before dying himself. To Gabrielle, this was unacceptable, and in the middle of defending her slayers she searched for a way to end things without having someone die. After a few seconds she saw where her best chance lay and called out, "buy me three seconds," to Nicole. The young slayer just nodded and started towards Kingsley, breaking the perimeter that they had formed. She was using her superhuman agility to avoid Kingsley's attacks and in addition, she was distracting him from what Gabrielle was doing. Gabrielle lined up her shot and sent the strongest stunner she could manage in Kingsley's direction. The bolt roared in front of his face, but unfortunately it didn't distract him, even for a second. One of his hexes had caught Nicole with a glancing shot and the young slayer was down and helpless. Everyone could see that Kingsley was preparing to finish the girl. 'No he won't,' Gabrielle thought and cast the strongest shield she could manage. Kingsley's bolt spattered against the shield that had suddenly sprang up between Nicole and himself, its energy was dissipated. Nicole was hurt, but she would live.

Then all at once, there was silence. Everyone could see Kingsley standing there, arms at his side; and with a little work they could also see a small blond figure standing behind him, her wand resting against his head, under his ear.

"Drop your wands or so help me Kingsley, you'll be left cursing the fact that I didn't kill you."

There was something in Fleur's voice, a quality that he'd never heard there before that told Kingsley that very ruthless action would soon be following the words, so he did the smart thing and dropped his wands. Immediately the room was full of action. Some were securing Kingsley and the four conspirators, others were making sure that there were no more surprises in the house. Gabrielle was seeing to Nicole, making sure that nothing was wrong with the young slayer. Fleur turned to see Buffy, Faith, Willow and Dawn all fussing over Alexander; and despite all of the attention from some very pretty women, the man's gaze was fixed on her. "I told you Dawn," he said, "scarier that PMSing Buffy."

Fleur blushed, the others laughed and Buffy managed to look both offended and proud at the same time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After she had made sure that Alexander was alright, she did the worst thing that she could think of to punish him for sacrificing himself the way he had. She told everyone exactly what he had done. The resulting fusillade of verbage, punctuated with smacks to the arms and head were exactly what the situation demanded, at least in Fleur's opinion. As Alexander was being dealt with, Fleur sought out the other person that required her personal attention.

"Will Nicole be alright," she asked her sister.

"She should be," Gabrielle answered, looking up from the injured Slayer, "it was a glancing blow, and I think that there is only a deep bruise with no magical residue. Her slayer healing should see to it overnight."

"That's good," she then focused on her sister, "and that was a brilliant move you made."

Gabrielle blushed, "it seemed like the smart thing to do. I had to stop it before people started getting killed."

"And you figured out what to do and executed your plan without hesitation. You were even willing to risk a friend to do so."

"I'm sorry about that," Gabrielle said, looking chagrined.

"Don't be," Fleur replied. "One of the hardest lessons that I ever learned is that sometimes we have to risk everything to do what needs to be done. It looks like that's already a lesson you've learned. You could be a great Auror some day Gabrielle."

Fleur looked around, checking on everyone's status and leaving a blushing Gabrielle where she sat. Absently Fleur noted that Gabrielle held the young slayer's hand the entire time, and had yet to let it go. Fleur smiled to herself and hoped that her sister would be happy. The group berating Alexander had broken up and as Fleur made her way back to the one eyed man, she was peripherally aware of the conversations going on around her. Willow was enduring a furious barrage of questions from Hermione about the different types of magic. Ron and Neville were having a quiet chat about the Slayers and how they were dressed, being typical guys in other words. Ginny was talking to a few of the girls, and asking about the things they did and fought. And Harry, Fleur looked over to the young man. Harry was standing there quietly; he wasn't speaking, just watching the activity with a wistful smile on his face. His bottom half wasn't there, which told Fleur that he had found his invisibility cloak and was just holding it. Idly grabbing Buffy on her way to speak to Alexander, Fleur was determined to see if they could do something for the Boy Who Lived.

They were making their way to the Ministry, which actually wasn't far from where Fleur and Alexander had been taken. As they strolled along, Ron and Neville were animating the unconscious conspirators and Kingsley so it didn't look too fishy, Harry was thinking about what he'd done. It had been a long time since he'd let himself go in a fight the way he had, and he liked it. To him it was almost as good as flying; unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of use for that particular skill set. He was still musing over the fight when he realized that someone was walking next to him. He looked over to see a rather curvy brunette who's eyes were fixed on him.

"What?"

"So you're the guy that dealt with the big bad in these parts?"

"Big bad?"

"Head evil guy."

"Yeah," Harry replied, "his name was Tom Riddle, but he called himself Voldemort."

"Well that's lame; so what was he?"

"A part snake guy that wanted to run everything and was afraid of dying."

"That sounds familiar, why do they always want to take over things when it would be a lot easier to just make themselves rich and live the easy life on some island somewhere?"

"I wondered that myself, anyway; I fought him. All of the others helped but I had to do it, it was a prophecy."

"Never rely on those things. We've dealt with prophecies before; they never turn out the way they're supposed to. Hell, half the time the only reason they come to pass is because you do know about em."

"What?"

"Well look at B up there," she said, indicating the petite blond. "It was prophesied that she would fight this really old vamp, and if she didn't he would end the world. But the thing is, she was exactly what he needed to escape his prison and really end the world. If she hadn't gone down there, he never would have had a chance to do anything but stand there and be a jerk. Anyway, the reason I wanted to talk to ya was to make an offer."

"What kind of offer?"

"Xan's looking to get a few of you wand types working with us. I figure if you can handle a guy like that then you might be up for what we do."

"Why would you think I'd want to work with you all?"

"Because you're bored, I can see it easy. You saved your society, we save the world. So I'm wonderin if you're ready to move up to the majors?" Then she walked away, leaving Harry walking along, deep in thought.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Those who saw it remarked on the odd procession they'd seen at the Ministry. There were several prominent members of the Wizengamot and the chief Auror that all looked to be restrained in some way or other. There was the French half breed Auror and her sister, Harry Potter and his friends and a great lot of Muggles who looked like they were supposed to be there. No one interfered and no one questioned what they were doing after seeing one of the Muggles, a young woman, pick Auror Stringford (who was not small) up with one hand and politely informed him that they had business with the Minister of Magic.


	9. What Have Ya Got, At The End of the Day

A/N Last chapter, although there will be an epilogue. Thanks to everyone that has read and/or reviewed my little tale. As always, I have no proprietary rights to either the works of JK Rowling or to BTVS.

**What Have You Got, At The End Of The Day**

Amelia Bones knew that one of the prices of being the Minister of Magic was dealing with days like this one. Her office was filled to overflowing with an unusual variety of people. Four members of the Wizengamot and the Chief Auror were front and center, but they were all both unconscious and restrained. Somehow Amelia knew that she wouldn't like the explanations behind that one. Auror Delacour was there along with her sister, Harry Potter and his usual coterie of followers, minus Miss Lovegood. Standing right behind Auror Delacour was a large man with an eye patch; from her discussions she knew this to be Alexander Harris. The man was a muggle, however there was quite a bit of residual magic in him. However all of these distractions paled in comparison to the young women who were currently pacing in her office, reminding her of hungry lionesses. Their obvious strength and inability to keep still told her that they were slayers, although how there could be more than one wasn't something she understood. Right now it was taking every bit of control she possessed to not whip out her wand and start stunning as many of them as she could. Well, control and the realization that they would disarm her (possibly literally) if she tried something like that. With many a sideways glance at these young women, Amelia turned her attention to the young Frenchwoman. "I don't suppose there is a quick and rational explanation for all of this, Auror Delacour?"

"No ma'am, at least nothing quick, but it is rational," she added with a small smile.

"Before you get to that, could you please introduce your guests," she asked indicating the slayers and company.

Fleur did, then the young Auror launched into the complete story of what had happened that night with Gabrielle, Harry and Dawn all adding their bits as well as various insights into the whole matter. Fleur was right when she had said that it wouldn't be quick. It was a lot for Amelia to take in. As Fleur had been explaining the events leading up to her kidnapping, several conversations were taking place, one was significant.

"What did that girl say to you Harry?"

"What?"

"After the fight, that older girl, the one who looks like a trollop talked to you for a bit; what did she say?"

"Why do you want to know, Gin?"

"Because ever since then, your head has been everywhere but here."

Harry just looked at the girl for a moment, deciding if he wanted to go down this road; finally he nodded to himself. "She asked me if I wanted to work with them."

"Who, those little girls that supposedly fight demons?"

"Yes, the people that fight things like Voldemort every day."

"Harry, they're crazy. Hermione hasn't even heard of most of the things they were talking about."

"Those things are real," Harry replied quietly. Then at Ginny's look he continued, "Hermione hasn't seen some of the books that I have, trust me Gin, those things are real, we've just forgotten about them."

Ginny stood there a moment, digesting what Harry had told her, then got back to her point. "So what did she say when you told her no?"

"I haven't."

Ginny looked astounded, "why not?"

"Because it sounds like something that I could do that would make a difference."

"But you've got your whole life here," Ginny fired back.

"Doing what," Harry replied just as quickly. "My entire life was aimed at beating Voldemort. Now that he's gone, what can I do? I can't leave Grimauld place without being mobbed, I can't teach and I can't even play Quidditch because I would be too distracting."

"Who told you that?"

"McGonagall and every Quidditch captain I talked to," Harry snapped back. "I've got you and my friends, but honestly Gin, all I'm doing right now is surviving, and I want to live."

Ginny just looked at him for a moment, peering into his eyes and indeed, she could see that he was more animated than she'd seen him in some time. Realizing the truth, she pulled him close and put her mouth to his ear. "Now you listen to me Harry Potter. I'll be damned if I had to watch you risking your life for seven years to save a bunch of wankers that probably didn't deserve it only to watch you get yourself killed playing demon killer. So if you say yes to them, make sure they realize they're getting two for one on this deal because I'm coming with you." She put her finger over his mouth to keep him from speaking, "and if the next words out of your mouth are anything other than 'Yes Ginny,' you won't be out of St. Mungo's for a month, do you understand me you great stubborn git?"

Harry just looked at the young red head and smiled, "Yes Ginny," he said quietly, then he kissed her; it was a warm kiss, full of both promise and admiration. Things might have progressed a bit from there, but unfortunately it was time for Harry to tell his part of the tale.

Another conversation wasn't quite so crucial.

"Sorry D, it sounds like Junior Red there has a claim on Mr. Studley with a wand."

"I figured as much, no big deal actually."

"Really, I figured you'd be all over that."

"Nah, he's cute, I'll give you that. But he's got the whole savior complex that Buffy has, along with the 'angsty, King of Pain' vibe that Angel had. So cuteness aside, I think I can do better."

Faith started to say something, but then closed her mouth and thought, it didn't take long. "The tall kid that doesn't say shit and blushes whenever he sees any skin? Really?"

"Think about it. I crushed on Xander for most of my life, and I've always liked guys that had hidden depths to them. I think he fills the bill on that score."

"Maybe, but if it gets serious, you'd have to change your name to Dawn Longbottom. I can't even imagine the amount of shit you'll catch for that."

"Who said anything about marriage," Dawn hissed as she smacked Faith in the shoulder. "I'm just talking about getting to know a potentially very cool guy."

"Sure you were," Faith replied with a smirk.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"That is quite a story, Auror Delacour."

"One that we will willingly repeat under Veritaserum."

Amelia Bones thought for a moment, "that won't be necessary. I have no reason to doubt either your or Alexander's veracity, not to mention these other people. We will take these miserable wretches off your hands if you don't mind."

"Actually Minister," Alexander cut in, "with all due respect, these four are ours to deal with."

"What do you base this assertation on, Alexander?"

"The Wizengamot/Council accord of 1418," he replied. He then handed her a parchment that Dawn had produced, "Article 3 clearly states that the injured parties shall have a free hand to administer such punishment as they feel appropriate."

"So it does," Amelia allowed, looking up. "If I may ask . . . ?"

"Nothing lethal, my word on that," Alexander replied.

"Would you be willing to tell me what you have in mind?"

"Certainly," Alexander said, "actually, it would probably be best that you know exactly what is going to happen so that you can properly prepare yourself." He then proceeded to spell out exactly what would happen to the four.

When he finished, Amelia looked stunned. Finally she found her voice, "could you do this before the entire Wizengamot?"

"Of course."

"Well then, tomorrow will be enlightening for many." She glanced down at the four conspirators, "no offense, but do you have facilities to hold these four?"

"Certainly Minister, compared to what we normally deal with, these four won't be any trouble."

"You won't allow . . . ?"

"No," Alexander cut her off, "to use your words, it will be and enlightening experience for them, but they will come to no harm."

"Well enough then," Amelia said, glad that this distasteful business was out of her hands. "We will see you tomorrow then, Auror Delacour knows the time and place."

"I do indeed, thank you Minister," Fleur replied.

"OK kids," Xander said, clapping his hands for attention. "Time to go and we're taking the four dipshits with us plus it'll be an early day tomorrow." This was greeted by groans of protest as Willow and Dawn quickly set about creating a teleportation circle. When it was finished, four of the slayers gathered up the prisoners and they all stepped in, this included Fleur and Gabrielle. "Till tomorrow," Alexander said with a wave and a smile, then they all vanished.

"I do wish I knew how they did that," Hermione muttered.

"That is what I would like for you to find out Miss Granger," Amelia Bones told the startled Witch. "It is not that I don't trust them," she said to Hermione and the rest, "but I don't want to be so in the dark concerning them. Do you all understand?"

Five nods answered her, and then five separate cracks told her that she was alone with Kingsley. She looked down at his unconscious form and muttered, "now what am I to do with you, my friend?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After everyone was safely back in Scotland, everything was efficiently dealt with. The prisoners were taken down to the detention area where they would all share a cell; however their neighbors might be a bit disconcerting. The injured and those caring for them were taken to the infirmary and the patrol reports of those slayers that had not been in on the rescue were perused and filed. As for Fleur and Alexander, they retired to his quarters, accompanied by a few smirks and knowing looks and even a couple of cat calls; this time they weren't interrupted.

After taking a shower together (to save water of course); and giving each other a thorough examination to insure that everything was healing well, the two of them were surprised to find that they were still awake. They were lying in Alexander's bed, with Fleur's head on his chest. "She will recruit a couple of them to spy on you, you know that don't you?"

"Yeah, my money's on the brown haired girl, and maybe the red headed guy."

"Hermione and Ron, they would be my guess too. Don't underestimate them, she's brilliant and he's very good with strategy and planning but he hides it well."

"Don't worry, we'll be ready. I figure as long as we keep them away from the summoning rituals and the whole divine magic area, there shouldn't be anything that they can use to cause a lot of trouble."

"So start them both with Wicca?"

"Yeah, I can just imagine their reaction to some of the rituals."

"You mean the ones where you have to be naked?"

"Yep, you Wizarding types tend to be a bit of a Victorian lot. For most of you a bit of nudity freaks you out, present company excluded of course."

"Of course," Fleur replied, snuggling down into the bed covers and holding Alexander tighter. "Good night Alexander."

"Good night Fleur," Alexander managed around a yawn, "I love you."

"I love you too, Alexander," she murmured in reply. Then sleep took them both.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It wasn't nearly so pleasant a night for Sarah Goldstein. She woke up, propped in the corner of a cell with one of the bars pressing painfully on her ear. Aside from her ear, her head felt like it was about to explode while the rest of her body felt like she'd been used as a target dummy in a dueling class. She could hear very little, but the smell and the general damp strongly hinted that she was in a dungeon of some sort. Slowly she opened her eyes and confirmed her suspicions about where she was. It was then that Sarah made a huge mistake because instead of looking at her own cell, she turned her head to the left and looked into the next cell. Unfortunately this allowed her to see the occupant of that cell from a distance of only a few inches. At first Sarah was concerned that she had lost her mind or there was the possibility that she was still unconscious because there was no way that she could be seeing what she was seeing. Whatever it was, was simply big with immense muscles and a jet black skin with patches that were a vibrant purple. This she could deal with, but the four arms and the six eyes were just a bit too much for her head. She closed her eyes and opened them again but whatever it was, was still there. She tried pinching herself, but that didn't remove the creature from her sight either. She was trying to figure out how she could be hallucinating this thing when it turned its head to face her. Sarah was starring in disbelief when the thing opened its mouth, one that had two sets of teeth she noted absently, and asked in a broad but definitely feminine Australian accent, "what you in for, Love?"

Sarah's understandable reaction was to start screaming, she didn't stop for some time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

One of the advantages of being an Auror is that you know all of the entrances to the Ministry of Magic. Most people know one or two, but Aurors know all twelve, even the one that takes you directly to the Wizengamot chamber. Fleur had thought that this would be their best option since she didn't want to march all of the slayers, their prisoners, Alexander and herself through the ministry proper and risk a confrontation with someone that didn't know what was going on. They were met at the entrance by Amelia Bones herself who guided them to a side chamber where they would wait to be announced.

There was a bit of waiting which was rough on the hyperactive slayers, but soon enough they were called in. They walked into a chamber that Alexander thought resembled a scaled down version of the Coliseum in Rome. The Slayers, their four prisoners, Willow and Dawn began to prepare while Fleur addressed the assembly, with Alexander's support.

"Minister and members of the Wizengamot and distinguished guests. Yesterday, four members of this august body kidnapped both myself and Alexander Harris, who is the head of field operations for the Reformed Slayers and Watchers Council. The four perpetrators; Walter Abbot, Eloise Greengrass, Angus McMillan and Sarah Goldstein all tortured Alexander with several curses, including the Cruciatus. We were then rescued by a mixed group comprised of members of The Council and citizens of the Wizarding community. The guilt of these four is undeniable. Therefore, as is stipulated in the Accord of 1408, punishment shall be meted out by Alexander's organization as he is the injured party." Fleur fell silent and stepped back.

Before anyone could comment, Amelia Bones spoke up. "I have examined the evidence personally and it is true that the guilt of these four is without a doubt. By the Accord that was mentioned, it is the right of the injured party to determine and carry out whatever punishment they deem fit. Alexander has told me what is to happen, and I agree that it is both fitting and just. I have asked that it take place in front of you all so that you may see it to be so."

"Thank you Minister," Alexander said, stepping forward and inclining his head to Madam Bones.

The silence focused everyone's attention on the activity that was going on behind the two speakers. The prisoners could be seen as well as their captors, but something else was being prepared, something that no one there had seen before.

Cynthia Pappadiemos was a slayer; she was also a priestess of Artemis. Her family lived in a remote valley in mountainous, northern Greece where the people were officially Greek Orthodox, but the old ways were observed as well. All the women in Cynthia's family were trained as priestesses from a young age. When the awakening had gone out, Cynthia's family had regarded her increased strength and speed as being a blessing from the Goddess and didn't question it further. When the Council finally found her, she had eagerly gone with them so that she could better use that which the Goddess had bestowed upon her. Now, though, it was her role as priestess rather than slayer that was needed. Heedless of the onlookers, she began the rite of calling down divine retribution on those who had sought to harm those that aided the blessed. Cynthia did not ask for anything specific, she would not presume to do so. She knew what would hurt these people the most, and if she did then you could be sure that the Goddess did as well. As the rite continued and the sacrifice was made, a bright light began to fill the chamber. It was a golden green light, like sunshine that is filtered through leaves in summer and as Cynthia chanted, the light grew. As the ritual neared its end, the light dimmed a bit, but suddenly there was power in the room. Power that was so overwhelming it nearly brought everyone there to their knees. As Cynthia chanted the last passage, the power coalesced into a wind that whipped around the four prisoners. The last syllable was spoken, the wind died and the light faded and Cynthia was left with the knowledge of what the Goddess had done. She turned to face Amelia Bones. "Divine justice has been done. They have been cut off from magic forever and all. Even those types that are new to you, they cannot do, nor even use enchanted items. All of this the Goddess has taken for their offenses." She turned to the four, who were now being helped up by the slayers that had been keeping an eye on them, "our justice has been done, you are free from us now." Cynthia ignored the looks that they were sending her way and began, with Willow and Dawn's help, to clean up. Meanwhile the four were marched to the front of the chamber to stand next to Fleur and Alexander.

Amelia Bones spoke to them, "Sarah Goldstein, Walter Abbot, Angus McMillan and Eloise Greengrass, you have been judged and punished by those that you harmed. As you now have no magic and no access to magic you are hereby banished from this governing body. You may continue to frequent Wizarding enclaves but your status will be officially changed to that of Squib and you will not be allowed to hold any office in Wizarding Britain." The four took this news with poor grace, but remained silent. Amelia then addressed the Wizengamot. "In order to fill the vacancies that now exist, I would like to nominate the following Witches and Wizards for your consideration; Luna Soliel Lovegood, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Blaise Zabini and Pavarti Patil. I also have to reluctantly announce that Kingsley Shacklebolt has been removed as head of Magical Law Enforcement due to differences that he had with Ministry policy. He has agreed to become the liaison to the Federal Bureau of Magical Investigation in the United States. With his departure, I will assume the responsibility as both Minister and head of Magical Law Enforcement until such time as the two new deputy heads are ready to operate on their own. Those deputies are Hermione Jane Granger and Ronald Billius Weasley."

Amelia turned back to face the group from the Watcher's Council. She was very pleased with herself. She had consolidated her power by re-assuming control of the MLE and brought in a group that would be very loyal to her. Not to mention the fact that all of her appointments had played notable parts in the war against Voldemort and none of the sitting members of the Wizengamot would challenge them.

"There is one more item of business I would like to entertain at this time," Amelia said. "Fleur Delacour, for your efforts as an Auror I would like you to be the official envoy between this office and the Reformed Slayers and Watchers Council. That way, situations like the one that has just been dealt with should no longer arise; do you agree?"

"I do, thank you Madam Minister for this honor."

"It is an honor that you have earned Auror Delacour. Please let me know in the next few days who will be on your staff."

"Of course Madam Minister," Fleur replied.

"Very well then," Amelia said, addressing everyone there, "if there is no further business then we are adjourned."

The witches and wizards present left quietly, some were stunned at what they'd seen happen to four of their number, but most were attempting to determine just what Amelia Bones was planning to do.

Gabrielle led the slayers and others back to the chamber where they had waited so they could collect their things and leave. Fleur, Dawn and Willow hung back, discussing who would likely be joining Fleur and Gabrielle on the Council. Alexander walked with them but didn't say anything. His mind wasn't on who would be joining them but on how to contain Amelia Bones. The woman was smart, politically savvy and ambitious. Xander smiled a bit as he considered the challenge ahead.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I appreciate the honor Minister, but are you sure . . . . ?"

"Yes Miss Granger, I am sure about your appointment. You and Ronald work well together, and yes, I do know that you are 'involved'. He has insight into the Wizarding World that you as a Muggle born do not and his presence will silence anyone who tries to bring up your non-Wizarding birth. You have insight into the rest of the world, a world that we desperately need to become more aware of and integrate into. I am determined to bring Wizarding Britain out of the Victorian era, and I believe that you and Ronald are instrumental in that."

"And the Watcher's Council?"

"They are our allies, but I dislike having allies that I know so little about."

"Especially since they know our magic but we don't know theirs."

"Exactly. I want you do take care of this personally. I want you to talk to their Watchers, those from Wizarding families and otherwise. Find out what they know and how they learned it. Make sure that we know what to expect from them in case the worst should occur even if we cannot duplicate what they do."

"That won't be easy, Minister."

"True, but I know what you are capable of Miss Granger."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So they're gonna snoop on us," Dawn asked.

"Without a doubt."

"Do you think they'll be able to perform Wiccan and Blood magic?"

"Fleur can, so I have no doubt that some of them will become quite good at it."

"So what do we do?"

"Like I said before, keep em away from Divine magic and summoning rituals."

"Divine I can understand, but summoning rituals?"

Xander just looked at Dawn, not saying a word.

"That's your Ace, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"If they become a problem then you can still hit em with something they don't expect and can't prepare for."

"Mostly," Xander replied with a feral smile.

"What else is there?"

"Technology. I want the Andrew and his crew to start analyzing the witches and wizards working with us, see if their magical signature is different from someone like Willow. That way, we can find em if we have to. I also want them to check out the feasibility of a device that will do what Cynthia did and cut em off from their power, even for a minute or two."

"So you don't trust em."

"Fleur and the gang joining us, sure I do. But Bones is a politician, and I've never trusted any of them."

"Good point," Dawn said with a sigh.


	10. For the Usual Fee, Plus Expenses

A/N Here's the last little bit. I wasn't sure how to end this, so I did a little riff on Rowling. It answers some questions, it raises others; I leave it to you, dear reader, to fill in the holes yourself. I may do so at a later date, but it's not looking good. As always, I have no proprietary claim on either BTVS or the works of JK Rowling; nor do I have any claim on the song Private Investigations, that belongs to the immortal Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits. I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read, review or in some way flag my story, I appreciate it.

POE1911

**FOR THE USUAL FEE, PLUS EXPENSES**

Platform 9 ¾

Harry watched his youngest cross the platform and enter the Hogwart's Express for the first time; it was an odd feeling, having his youngest going off to school. It was almost surreal, how was he old enough to have three children in school, that wasn't possible, was it? He looked down at Ginny and smiled, their children had turned out well, and Harry figured that was mostly due to Ginny and not himself, although he knew that she would dispute that. He turned back towards the train and saw another couple sending their child off, it was a little girl with frizzy, fly away red hair, the realization of who it was hit Harry. It hit him harder than he thought it would. He watched as Ron and Hermione watched their little girl get onto the Express.

It felt like a lifetime since he talked to them, but in actuality he knew exactly how long it had been; ever since the "Incident". Everyone knew that Amelia Bones had been wanting control of the Council, it was simply that no one believed she was foolish enough to try something. But she had and the Aurors had attacked, the Council had been ready. They had summoned creatures out of nightmare. It wasn't a battle, it was a slaughter. After everything was cleaned up and the survivors healed, Harry had gone to talk with his two friends. He had wondered what they were thinking; they had wondered how he could be so disloyal. It had not ended well.

He felt Ginny's arm tighten around his waist, she had seen who he had. They both watched as the two slowly made their way down the platform and towards the exit. Harry sighed with the realization that some bridges stayed burnt.

He gave a curt smile and nod to Draco as he passed. Harry knew that Draco had been considering throwing his lot in with the Ministry when they were planning the assault on the Council and Harry had warned him off. Remarkably, Draco had actually listened to his "hated rival" and kept himself, his family and their friends out of the fray. Which of course meant that after all was said and done, the pureblood families were now back working for the Ministry, but that was alright with Harry because age had mellowed Draco a great deal and while they weren't friends, they weren't enemies either.

He could see Dawn and Neville getting on up near the Locomotive. Neville was now the Herbology professor and Dawn taught Muggle Studies, which she was working hard to rename, but the Board of Governors were still a conservative lot so it was slow going. Harry remembered the sorrow he felt when Neville told him that they couldn't have children. It had been a tremendous blow to the young couple, but they had weathered it with the help of family and friends. They had made up for it by practically taking the entire student body at Hogwarts under their wing and creating a feeling of home for those who needed it.

Back the other way, Harry could see Gabrielle and William Diggory, their son was a second year Hufflepuff and had already shown a skill beyond his years, much like his uncle. Great things were expected. Behind them, Harry could make out Alexander and Fleur, still very much in love while at the same time they were probably two of the most feared people in England, perhaps the world. Harry found it amusing that the crowd seemed to be giving them a wide berth, but what would you expect for "The Executioner and White Death". Fleur hated her nickname with a passion, claiming that there were much better things to compare her to than a carnivorous fish. Alexander didn't care much for his either, saying it made him sound like a second rate comic book villain; but the demon community were all for the purple metaphor so the names stuck, much to the chagrin of the two they had been bestowed upon. Their son was at Salem Academy and was planning to guard the active Hellmouth in Darwin Australia once he graduated. Their daughter could have gone to either Salem or Hogwarts, but she was aiming herself for Oxford, claiming that she wanted to learn a lot more about the world than just magic; her mother was teaching her that. Harry smiled; he knew how little Andrea Joyce could be a force of nature when she wanted to be. Ginny often wondered if the girl might not be a slayer, or at least some kind of half slayer, but the girl was just strong willed, much like her many aunts.

Together Harry and Ginny made their way through the crowds towards their friends. They had planned on going out tonight for dinner. There, Harry was going to surprise them by offering Fleur her old job back; after all he was the head of the DMLE and he could hire anyone he darned well pleased as his deputy. Harry knew that everyone had expected Kingsley to take over when his exile was over, but surprisingly the man had stayed in America, joined the Council and had been guarding the Hellmouth there. He had then chosen to stay in America even after that Hellmouth went dormant. There was speculation that his decision to join the council was the trigger that caused Amelia Bones to throw caution to the wind and do what she had done; but in the end only Amelia knew why she had done what she had, and she was unavailable for comment now. Harry honestly didn't know if Fleur would take the job or not, but he had hopes that she would. Harry was hoping that Fleur would turn out to be what they wanted all those years ago, a bridge between their two worlds.

**THE END**


End file.
